ASA to Hold ASRW 2014 in Detroit Alongside
I-CAR and CIC July 28–Aug 2
The Automotive Service Association
(ASA) announced at the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) in Boston
that the NACE expo will be moving
away from its traditional fall event
schedule to stage a summer show beginning in Detroit in 2014.
NACE (the International Autobody Congress & Exposition), I–CAR
(Inter–Industry Conference on Auto
Collision Repair) and CIC (Collision
Industry Conference) have announced
the formation of Industry Week 2014,
uniting several of the industry’s key
events. The announcement was made
by ASA Executive Director Dan Ris-

ley at the opening of this week’s CIC
meetings at the Westin Boston Waterfront. Speaking in front of the assembly, Risley said the move backs the
ASA’s promise he relayed at CIC in
April that NACE will see substantial
changes in the coming years.
Industry week will take place
July 28–Aug. 2, 2014 at Detroit’s
Cobo Center, and has the following
preliminary schedule of events:
Tuesday, July 29 – CIC Meeting
& Reception
Wednesday, July 30 – I–CAR
Conference & Reception
See ASRW 2014, Page 19

Carlisle and Company Blogs on PartsTrader
market strategies that help OEMs
manage risk and optimize performance.
Carlisle and Company is known
for its data benchmarking, both in service and parts, designed to help member
companies improve dealer service support, and service quality to vehicle
owners. One of their groups, the North
America Parts Benchmark (NAPB,
formerly NASPC) has been analyzing
the parts supply chain since 1993, so
it’s interesting to read the company
blog, which recently addressed the ongoing PartsTrader controversy. The
text following comes directly from the
Carlisle blog (www.carlisle-co.com):
See Carlisle’s Blog, Page 30

Change Service Requested
P.O. BOX 1516, CARLSBAD, CA 92018

Carlisle and Company is a consulting
firm—not to be confused with Carlyle
Group (an American-based global
asset management firm active in acquiring collision MSOs, such as Service King recently)—which develops

PartsTrader rollout plan

VOL. 1 ISSUE 12
AUGUST 2013

www.autobodynews.com

Wisconsin Moves to Reform its Lemon Law;
State is Known for Excessive Awards
Wisconsin is notorious among automobile, motorcycle, truck, and recreational vehicle manufacturers as
having the worst lemon law in the
country. The law places unreasonable
and unworkable requirements on
OEMs that allows lawyers like selfproclaimed “Lemon Law King,” Vince
Megna, to win exorbitant awards that
have no apparent relationship to the
underlying goals of the law. For example, in Marquez v. Mercedes-Benz, a
vehicle that cost $56,000 resulted in a
$618,000 award, with over $300,000
in attorney fees. (See article p. 4 this
issue.)
Wisconsin is the only state in the
nation to provide for mandatory double damages under its unique lemon
law. Under Wisconsin law, if the manufacturer fails to provide a comparable
vehicle or refund for a “lemon” within
30 days of the vehicle owner’s request,
the the courts are required to award
him or her double any pecuniary loss,

together with costs, disbursements and
reasonable attorney fees. The courts
have interpreted “pecuniary” loss to include the vehicle’s purchase price.
Assembly Bill 200, currently in
front of the legislature, would repeal
the nondiscretionary double-damage
requirement, but the fundamental obligation that a manufacturer provide a
comparable vehicle or refund remains
unchanged. The law will still allow a
consumer to bring an action to recover
any pecuniary loss (including the cost
of the vehicle), along with costs, disbursements and reasonable attorney
fees, and any equitable relief the court
determines appropriate, if the manufacturer fails to provide the vehicle or
refund within the specified deadline.
Thus, manufacturers still have every
incentive to provide a timely refund or
vehicle, but lawyers will have less incentive to delay resolution of the dispute.
See Wisconsin Lemon Law, Page 6

State Lawmakers Around U.S. Consider Or
Approve Legislation Affecting Body Shops
by John Yoswick

Dozens of proposed laws that will
have an impact on collision repairers
get introduced in state capitols around
the country every year. Paying attention to them—even if they aren’t up
for consideration in your state
now—can pay off because you may
be interested in getting similar laws
enacted in your state. Conversely, a
bill you don’t like in another state
could make its way to your Capitol, so
it’s helpful to know what to watch for.
Here’s a look at some of the bills
that have recently been introduced, are
under consideration or have been passed
by lawmakers around the country.
Parts-related legislation
A New York bill (A 7234) (similar to

one introduced in Maryland) takes
aim at PartsTrader by prohibiting an
insurer from requiring a shop to use a
specific vendor or process for the procurement of parts or materials necessary for repair of a vehicle.
Another New York bill (A 3872)
introduced would require consumer
notification and consent regarding the
type of parts to be used in repairing
their vehicle, and would prohibit the
use of anything other than new OEM
parts for vehicles less than three years
old. A similar bill (HB 362) in Vermont would place a 2-year ban on the
insurer-use of the parts on new cars.
New regulations that will go into
effect in California early next year
place significant new limitations on
the use of non-OEM parts in that state.
See Legislation Affecting Shops, Page 10

Michael Bradshaw, vice president of
operations for K&M Collision in Hickory, NC, was awarded claimed shortpays in a court-ordered arbitration. The
binding arbitration was the result of
Bradshaw filing a lawsuit on behalf of
K&M Collision’s customer against Nationwide for the insurer’s underpayments of what were determined to be
reasonable and necessary repair costs.
In North Carolina, every lawsuit filed
goes to binding arbitration, and only
after same can either party then seek a
trial if so inclined.
The insurer’s short-pays included:
labor rates ($48 body and refinish, $80
mechanical and $65 frame); procedures (i.e. sand and buff, final detail,
road test, color tint and collision access
time); invoiced paint and materials;
sublet markup; fixture usage; and a
$250 damage analysis fee which included a comprehensive part-by-part
inspection of all components including
exterior panels, inner structure, mechanical components, and SRS and

seat belt systems. The award also included storage charges at a rate of $50
per day for a total amount of $2,506.98
plus accrued interest until the insurer’s
full payment is made.
“I’m glad the courts recognized
who the repair experts were,” says Bradshaw. “From the beginning, I was very
confident we would succeed through our
legal system in proving all our charges to
be both reasonable and necessary. For
any insurer to expect all shops to operate
by the same rates, procedures and
charges regardless of training, manufacturer certifications, equipment and facilities is ludicrous. The fact is we have
made a commitment to repairing vehicles properly, adhering strictly to all manufacturer repair methods and guidelines,
and what we’re consistently finding with
some insurers is they care very little
about manufacturer certifications and
proper repairs and only about bottomline cost and the cheapest repairs possible. My father (the CEO) and I decided if
we were going to stay in business and
continue to repair vehicles properly, we
See NC Short Pay, Page 17

NOLA Shop Owner Implicated in Cover-Up of Hit and Run, Fourth Suspect Sought
The owner of the New Orleans body
shop at which police found the car allegedly involved in a fatal hit and run
of an officer bonded out of jail the
morning of July 11. Best of the Best
Auto Shop owner Bill Cager, 33, was
booked with obstruction of justice
and accessory after the fact to
manslaughter. His bond was set at
$100,000.
Officer Rodney Thomas was
fatally struck by a Porsche Panamera,
which was allegedly being driven by
Justin McKey, 25. McKey was
booked on manslaughter and felony
hit and run charges, as police said
that he was behind the wheel of the
2013 Porsche Panamera that hit Officer Thomas on the High Rise at
around 1 o’clock the morning of July
7. Orleans Parish Sheriff’s records

Gravier St., and was recorded the
morning Thomas was killed.
Anyone with information on the
whereabouts of this man is asked to
call Crimestoppers at 504.822.1111
or toll-free at 1.800.903.7867
McKey turned himself in at 3:30
p.m. July 8, told police where to find
the Porsche, and admitted he was behind the wheel when he hit Officer
Thomas on the Interstate 10 high rise
around 12:45 a.m. July 7, said court
records.
Before the hit and run, Thomas
was involved in a minor traffic accident in a personal vehicle on the way
home from his night shift in the second district, and began directing traffic while in his uniform and reflective
vest.
While Thomas was directing traffic, witnesses said the Porsche
side-swiped Thomas’ truck
before striking Thomas, carrying him on the hood of the
vehicle before he fell to the
ground. The Porsche then
sped off.
McKey told investigators
he was driving the “car in
and out and it was dark and
he didn’t see him.”
McKey’s neighbors said
he and his mother have lived
Rosalyn Thomas, far right, the wife of New Orleans Police
Department Officer Rodney Thomas, looks at a photo of
in the neighborhood for
her husband, far left, on the hood of a NOPD car during a
years, and they have never
vigil at 2nd District Police Station on Magazine Street in
before seen a white Porsche
New Orleans on Thursday, July 11, 2013. (Photo by Chris
on their street, raising quesGranger, Nola.com)
tions about who owns the car.
show McKey posted $50,000 bond at
Court documents confirm, Hal7:39 p.m. July 9.
ley was previously cited for driving
A third suspect in the case, Ken- the Porsche erratically near the Merneth Halley, 28, remained jailed as of
cedes-Benz Superdome around 9 pm
July 11. Halley is accused of taking
on July 6, hours before the fatal hit
the damaged Porsche to Cager’s Best
and run.
of the Best Automotive and Collision
Police have not yet said who
Center, at 2635 Gravier St. Bond was owns the Porsche.
set at $100,000 for charges of accesWhen the car was discovered at
sory after the fact to manslaughter Cager’s shop, he and another man aland obstruction of justice. But he was legedly involved in the cover up,
being held without bond for parole Kenneth Halley, were arrested. Halviolation.
ley has a previous felony conviction
New Orleans police are search- according to court records.
ing for a fourth suspect in the fatal
According to court documents,
hit-and-run of NOPD officer Rodney Cager used towels to wipe blood off
Thomas, according to NOPD the car. NOPD technicians found
spokesman Frank Robertson.
blood stained rags in garbage cans in
Police released a grainy photo- and around the business the next day,
graph of the suspect on July 10. Ac- as well as hair on the car’s windcording to police, the photo was shield.
taken from surveillance video inside
The vehicle had extensive damthe Best of the Best of the Best Auto- age to the front end and passenger’s
motive and Collision Center, at 2635 side, and the windshield had a mas-

4 AUGUST 2013 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

sive indentation where glass had
shattered.
According to court documents,
Halley picked up a friend and drove
the Porsche to the body shop within
an hour of the crash.

Halley has a lengthy criminal
record, which includes multiple arrests, including charges for second
degree murder and heroin distribution. He was arrested multiple times
in 2008 alone, resulting in convictions for distribution of
heroin and cocaine and attempted possession of a
firearm by a felon.
Halley was released on
good behavior in 2011, serving only two years of a fiveyear sentence that would
have been up in 2014.
New Orleans Police have arrested Justin McKey, left,
Shop owner Cager was arKenneth Halley, center, and Bill Cager, right, in connection
with the fatal hit-and-run accident that took the life of
rested in 2002 for unauthoNOPD Officer Rodney Thomas early the morning of July 7.
rized use of a motor vehicle,
(Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office)
illegal possession of a stolen
Surveillance cameras inside and auto worth over $500, and altering or
outside the business showed the ve- removing an auto VIN number, all of
hicle arriving at the business, and the
which were refused. Cager also had
subsequent attempts to clean the car, a 2002 municipal court charge for
said prosecutors.
disturbing the peace.
McKey has a January arrest in
Thomas’ funeral services were
which he pled no contest to criminal held morning of July 12 at Franklin
trespassing (domestic violence) and
Avenue Baptist Church. The cerewas sentenced to 30 days, a $350 fine mony was conducted with full police
including court costs, and one year
department honors, described by the
inactive probation.
local media as a “sea of blue.”

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The bill makes other changes that
bring WI law more in line with other
states:
Clarifying Out of Service. Under
existing law, a vehicle is considered a
lemon if within one year of delivery the
vehicle is subject to repair at least four
times for the same problem or if the vehicle is out of service for 30 days or
more due to nonconformities with the
warranty. The bill clarifies that “out of
service” means that the vehicle is unable to be used for its intended purpose.
Providing Comparable New
Vehicle. The bill provides a more reasonable time period to provide a comparable vehicle – 120 days for
commercial vehicles and 45 days for
others. In addition, the bill requires
the manufacturer exercise due diligence in locating and providing a
comparable new vehicle within the
applicable time period. However, if no
comparable new vehicle exists, or is
otherwise unavailable for delivery
within the applicable period, the manufacturer must provide a refund
within that timeframe.

Changing Election. If the consumer makes a change in his or her
choice of refund or new comparable
vehicle, the applicable time period to
deliver the refund or vehicle is reset.
Providing Needed Information.
The bill requires a consumer requesting
a refund to provide the manufacturer
needed information on a form approved
by the Wisconsin Department of Motor
Vehicles. The manufacturer must provide the refund 10 days after receiving
the information or 30 days from the refund request, whichever is later.
Allowing Negotiated Settlements. As an alternative to a refund
or comparable new vehicle, the bill allows for negotiated settlements.
Establishing a Statute of Limitation. A vehicle can only be a lemon under
the law as a result of problems arising
while under the term of the warranty or
within a year after first delivery,
whichever is sooner. Thus, waiting six
years to file a claim, as is currently allowed, is an unnecessary delay. The bill’s
24-month statute of limitations is consistent with other states where the limitation
periods range from 12 to 24 months.
Read the full text of the bill at
https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2013
/related/proposals/ab200.

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Continued from Cover

Wisconsin Lemon Law

Shop owners, service writers, advanced and intermediate technicians,
and automotive industry suppliers are
encouraged to attend the 5th Annual
Automotive Service Association of
Illinois (ASA-Illinois) Chicago Automotive Networking (C.A.N.) Conference, scheduled for Friday, Sept. 20,
through Sunday, Sept. 22, 2013, at the
Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare in
Rosemont, IL.
The C.A.N. Conference, which
draws industry professionals from all
over the United States and Canada, will
feature the best class instructors and
education opportunities in the automotive sector, top vendors with the latest
tools and technology, a variety of
hands-on demonstrations on the exhibit
show floor, and networking opportunities with industry peers and suppliers.
The 2013 education line-up includes management, advanced and intermediate technician classes led by
industry experts John Thornton, Scot
Manna, Matt Winslow, Bernie Thompson, Scott Shotton, Jim Moritz, Bob
Pattengale and Jorge Menchu. Topics
will cover tips on increasing shop profits, effective management skills and
Internet marketing strategies, understanding fuel injection, electrical circuit testing, German car driveability,
air fuel ratio sensors, top three DTCs,

MB-USA Pays Out Another $260K in Long-Running WI Lemon Law Case as Legislature Hears Revised Law

Mercedes-Benz USA LLC has paid out
another $260,000 in a long-running
lemon law case. Attorney Vince Megna
(known locally and self-identified as
the ‘Lemon Law King’) sued the company in 2005 on behalf of a Waukesha
businessman who purchased what was
deemed a defective E-series sedan. The
state Supreme Court last year upheld a
$482,000 judgment against the company. Megna argued the company
owed interest that had accrued during
the case’s court journey and MercedesBenz paid $618,000.
A Waukesha County judge has now
ordered the company to pay attorney
fees and costs totaling $259,536. The
company cut a check dated the same day.
According to court documents,
Marquez purchased a $56,000 E320
from a Milwaukee dealership in April
2005. Almost immediately, the car
wouldn’t start and a number of repair
attempts failed. In October 2005, Marquez had Megna send Mercedes-Benz
a lemon law notice, demanding a refund. Under the law, the company had
30 days to comply. Marquez and the
company spent most of those 30 days
discussing a replacement vehicle in lieu
of a refund. Ultimately, Marquez said
he wanted a refund five days before the
compliance window closed.

Wisconsin law provides that “if a
new motor vehicle does not conform to
an applicable express warranty,” and
the nonconformity is not cured after a
“reasonable attempt to repair,” then the
consumer may return the vehicle and
elect to receive either: 1) a new comparable vehicle, or 2) a refund.
If the auto manufacturer fails to
provide a refund or replace the vehicle
within 30 days, the law provides harsh
penalties. The plaintiff is also entitled to
pre- and post-judgment interest, which
can be large in cases like this that take
years to wind through the court system.
After Mercedes-Benz was alerted
that the car was a lemon, it began working with the owner and his attorney to
provide the owner the proper remedy.
Originally Marquez sought a new vehicle, but instead of seeking a similar Eseries he requested an S-series, which
had not yet been released to dealers.
The car company argued it wasn’t
liable because Marquez didn’t give one
of its employees the information they
needed to grant a refund.
The case started in Waukesha
County Circuit Court, where a judge
ruled in favor of the owner. The case
was appealed to the court of appeals,
which reversed the lower court. The
court of appeals held that a consumer

who intentionally thwarts a manufacturer’s efforts to provide a refund
within the 30-day statutory period cannot recover the Lemon Law’s stiff
remedies. The court remanded the case
back to the circuit court for the jury to
determine whether the owner intentionally thwarted Mercedes-Benz’s attempt to provide a statutory refund
within the 30-day period by failing to
provide the requisite bank information.
On remand, the jury found in
favor of Mercedes-Benz. The jury determined that the owner and his attorney, Megna, acted in bad faith by
failing to call the bank so that Mercedes-Benz could access the bank account information.
The circuit court judge, however,
overturned the jury’s verdict by issuing
a directed verdict in favor of the owner.
The judge determined there was no
credible evidence that the owner (or his
attorney) intentionally thwarted Mercedes-Benz’s efforts to provide a refund.
The case went straight to the
Supreme Court, which affirmed the
judge’s directed verdict in favor of the
owner.
Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, writing for the majority, found the
lemon law is designed to force large,
well-funded auto makers to compen-

sate customers for their losses. Expanding the manufacturers’ defenses
would undermine the law’s purpose,
Abrahamson wrote.
No evidence suggested Marquez
intentionally tried to block the refund,
Abrahamson said. She found the initial
refund demand provided MercedesBenz authorization to contact Marquez’s bank and his loan officer, noting
Marquez called the loan officer the day
he reaffirmed he wanted a refund and
authorized him to release the account
information to the car maker. Therefore, Mercedes-Benz had all the information it needed to deliver the refund
before the deadline, Abrahamson said.
In addition, the company’s employee never tried to contact the loan
officer, never clearly asked Marquez to
contact the bank and didn’t leave a
number or express any urgency when
he contacted Megna’s office later that
afternoon, she found.
Justice Patience Roggensack wrote
in dissent that she didn’t believe Marquez acted in good faith and the decision
deprives auto manufacturers of a valid
defense.
Republican legislators have recently introduced a Wisconsin bill that
would cap damages at actual losses.
See cover story.

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A man was arrested after allegedly
shooting a shop employee in Camp
Washington, OH. 18-year-old Keontis Clark was arrested after a mechanic was shot in the face at Uni
Auto Sales. Police said the mechanic
was conscious and able to talk when
they arrived at the scene. He told authorities that Clark was arguing with
him over work done on his car. He
then allegedly shot the mechanic
under the eye. The mechanic was
taken to the hospital. His condition
is unknown at this time.

Lane Auto Body Shuts with
Death of Owner Steve Lane

Solon, OH, Shop Owner is
Found Safe and Sound

The Solon Police Department was
asking for help in locating Renat A.
Akberdin, a 48-year-old male from
Solon declared missing from his Auto
Body shop in Willoughby. He drove
a 2000 Honda Odyssey van grey in
color bearing Ohio registration ERG
9320 according to the department’s
Facebook page.
Akberdin was later found safe in
Eastlake, according to the Solon Police. They did say that he had minor
injuries but it is unclear at this time
what they are or what caused them.

Steven Lane died Saturday, July 20,
2013, at his home in Davenport, IA,
after a yearlong battle with cancer.
Memorials may be made to the family. Memorial services were held at
Heritage Wesleyan Church, Rock Island. Visitation was held at the Van
Hoe Funeral Home Ltd., East Moline.
His shop closed June 28 this year.
Steven was born Dec. 6, 1959, in
Moline, the son of Freddie and Betty
Albright Lane. He married Denice
Long Sept. 4, 1993, in Moline. He
owned and operated Lane Auto Body
in Davenport for 35 years. He loved
spending time with his family and enjoyed the outdoors, especially fishing
and camping.
Survivors include his wife,
Denice Lane, East Moline; sons,
Joshua DeCrane, Moline, and Brandon DeCrane, Rock Island; a grandson, Parker DeCrane; parents, Freddie
and Betty Lane, Osbourn, Ill.; brothers, Robert (Tena) Lane, Warsaw, Mo.,
William Lane, Chicago, Ernest Lane
(Scott Biniak), Lake of the Hills, Ill.,
and Michael Lane (Stephen Wolfe),
Columbus, Wis. He is preceded in
death by his grandparents.
Online condolences may be left
for the family at www.vanhoe.com.

Auto Body Speed Shop’s
Mall Location Stands Out

ABRA Acquires Royal Auto
Glass in Indianapolis, IN

Auto Body Speed Shop (ABSS), a repair shop located in Jacksonville,
Florida, is located in a high-end strip
mall. ABSS uses its location in the
site of a former Blockbuster video
store to create a retail look and feel for
its customers. The facility boasts
floor-to-ceiling windows that allow
customers, as well as window-shoppers, to see techs at work. For added
transparency, the shop has a live camera on its shop floor so anyone on the
website can see what is happening in
the shop at any given moment in realtime. Another rare occurrence, wind
spires, can be seen on the far side of
the property. The three wind spires
work in conjunction with rooftop
solar panels to decrease utility costs
for the shop. The visual uniqueness is

Auto Body Speed Shop’s Mall Location in
Jacksonville, FL

sure to make them memorable to both
customers and spectators alike.

ABRA Auto Body and Glass has announced the acquisition of Royal Auto
Glass in Indianapolis, IN. ABRA purchased Royal Auto Glass for undisclosed
terms from owner Steve Hoyt who
founded the business and offers more than
20 years of auto glass industry experience.
The company has a rich history in the area
and a well-established reputation with
local residents and corporate partners.
President and CEO of ABRA,
Duane Rouse, spoke of the new glass asset
as an important part of an ambitious growth
strategy to acquire repair centers and glass
companies like Royal Auto Glass. The deal
is a critical element to expanding ABRA’s
operations in the Indiana market.
Royal Auto Glass’ owner Steve
Hoyt will join ABRA and assume a
leadership role in the company to maintain and manage auto glass operations in
the Indianapolis market. Hoyt stated,
“This is a great cultural fit and an exceptional opportunity for our employees.
ABRA has all the ingredients of a successful company – integrity, a culture of
ethics, a well-respected reputation, and
teamwork with a strong focus on customer service.” ABRA now operates 49
independently-owned franchises and
124 company-owned locations for a
total of 173 repair centers in 17 states.

8 AUGUST 2013 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

Body Shop Burn Camp
Donor Recalls His Own Burn

Downtown Niles, IL, was inundated
with motorcycles for the Burn Run
July 13-14. Registation proceeds will
send children who are burn victims to
Great Lakes Burn Camp, in Jackson,
MI. For one donor who works at Precision Auto Body Shop in Chicago the
burn run has special meaning. Jeremy
Clanton said, “I was lighting a firework in a tube and it misfired and hit
my hand... It was very painful but it’s
only my hand, so I can’t imagine if it
was more than that.” He said the pain
was excruciating and he won’t be able
to ride his motorcycle this weekend in
the Niles Burn Run. “We’ve always
thought it was a great cause so we’ve
always tried to be the number one
donor of the burn run but since I’ve
hurt my hand... I had a situation where
I got burnt as well... and you have a
different appreciation for what a burn
means.” Jeremy’s devotion to the race
runs deep. Jodi Curran, Board member for Niles Burn Run, said “He’s
been very helpful to the Burn Run.
They’re also following our route this
year in case a motorcycle breaks down
so that they can tow it back for them.”
The Niles Burn Run trailer was stolen
but returned a few weeks ago, which
Curran said was a pleasant surprise.

Edgerton, WI, Car Fires Are
Still Being Investigated

Police are investigating a rash of car
fires July 6 that left five cars burned
out and destroyed in Edgerton, but the
fires are being investigated as arsons,
police Chief Tom Klubertanz said in a
news release. The fires all happened
within moments of each other early
July 6. Rock County 911 dispatch reported two of the cars burned up were
parked outside of Bumper to Bumper
Auto parts at 15 N. Main St., Edgerton. The other cars burned were at
Orens Auto Body, a body shop at 101
Swift St, Edgerton, and at another location in the 100 block of Swift Street,
according to Rock County 911 dispatch. Mike Johnson, who owns
Bumper to Bumper Auto Parts, said
two cars burned at his business were
owned by customers who’d left their
vehicles for repairs by a mechanic who
shares space with Bumper to Bumper.
Johnson said that the fires, which
burned up a Saturn car and a Pontiac
Grand Prix, started in one car and
spread to the other, and completely
torched both vehicles. He said the fire
then spread to a van owned by the auto
mechanic. Anyone with information
about the car fires is being asked to call
CrimeStoppers at 608-755-3636, or
Edgerton Police at 608-884-3321.

www.autobodynews.com | AUGUST 2013 AUTOBODY NEWS 9

Continued from Cover

Legislation Affecting Shops
The California Department of Insurance finalized regulations this year requiring insurers to pay for the costs to
remove, replace and return a defective
or non-compliant part; to cease the use
of any part known to be non-compliant and to notify the distributor within
30 days; and to pay for repairs based
on “accepted trade standards” set by
shops licensed by the California Bureau of Automotive Repair.
Insurer groups have indicated
they may challenge the new regulations, which they say are unnecessary
and thwart their ability to negotiate
“the most effective, less costly repair,”
nor do anything but “pay whatever
auto repair shops demand.”
Eileen Sottile, vice president of
governmental affairs at LKQ Corporation, told non-OEM parts distributors at their convention earlier this
year that it’s unclear whether the regulation will have a significant impact
on insurers’ use of non-OEM parts in
California. She said LKQ is reviewing
legal analysis related to a possible suit
against the regulator. Such a suit, she
said, could challenge the Commissioner’s authority to promulgate the
rule, or could be based on the rule’s
impact if “we see it has damaged our
ability to compete.”
Other options, she said, could be
to address the issue through legislation, or to do nothing “if we see there
truly is no market impact.”

Rates are focus of some bills
Nevada lawmakers have approved a
bill (SB 170) capping daily storage
fees charged by shops at 1.5 times the
prevailing storage rate determined by
state survey; the new law also sets
limits on when storage fees can be
charged.
After three attempts over the last
six years to get legislation related to
labor rates passed by Massachusetts
lawmakers, a fourth such bill (H 969)
has been introduced for the 2013-14
legislative session. The bill has evolved
over the years, and now if passed
would establish a labor rate in Massachusetts based on data from an independent study of the average labor rate
of five other Northeastern states.

Airbags under scrutiny
The National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration’s warning last fall to

consumers to avoid counterfeit airbag
replacements seems to have resurfaced the topic of airbags among some
state lawmakers.
The New Mexico House unanimously passed a bill (H 118) that
would prohibit the manufacturing,
sale or installation of a counterfeit or
substandard airbags. It would also
prohibit selling or installing a device
that causes the vehicle diagnostic system to inaccurately indicate that the
airbag is functional when a counterfeit
airbag is installed. Similar bills have
been approved by lawmakers in New
York and Connecticut, and by the
House in Ohio.
Also in New York, a bill (S 3779)
would place significant new restrictions on anyone selling or installing a
recycled airbag. The seller or installer,
for example would be required to
maintain records including the airbag
identification number, the VIN of the
vehicle from which it was removed,
the name and address of the purchaser,
and the VIN of the vehicle in which it
was installed.
Other proposals, new laws
Bills in other states tackle a variety of
topics impacting the industry.
Some states have established a
damage value threshold at which a vehicle must be declared a total loss. But
previously nothing prohibited an insurer from totaling a vehicle below
that threshold. The Rhode Island legislature, however, has approving a bill
(HB 5263) prohibiting an insurer in
that state from declaring a vehicle a
total loss if the cost to repair is less
than 75 percent of the vehicle’s preaccident value, unless the vehicle
owner provides written authorization
to do so.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry in June
signed a new law (HB 500) that allows independent repair shops to be
taxed at the same rate as dealerships,
parts stores and tire stores; previously
shops operated by dealerships were
taxed at a significantly lower rate because these businesses were classified
as “retail” businesses.
A new North Carolina law (HB
247) signed by Gov. Pat McCrory,
deals only with health insurance but
does ban insurer’s use of “most-favored nation” clauses (such as the one
in State Farm uses to require the best
rates and discounts that its Select
Service shops offer any other insurer)
when contracting with health care
providers.

10 AUGUST 2013 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

The Automotive Service Association (ASA) in June wrote to a New
Jersey Assembly committee, opposing
proposed “Right to Repair” legislation
(AB 352), saying that it puts at risk
ASA’s agreement with automakers
that “already provides independent repairers access to service, tool and
training information.” Aaron Lowe,
vice president of government affairs
for the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA), told the
committee his group supports the legislation, but also urged lawmakers to
hold off further action on the bill
while his group is in “negotiations
with the vehicle manufacturers regarding a national agreement on Right
to Repair.” Similar Right to Repair
bills have been introduced in Maine
and New York this year.
Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy
has signed a new law (effective January 1) designed to reduce insurer steering of glass claims; under the new law,
insurers (or third-party claims administrators) must disclose to insured’s
during their initial contact that, “You
have the right to choose a licensed
glass shop where the damage to your
motor vehicle will be repaired. If you
have a preference, please let us know.”

And under a new law (SB 86)
that went into effect this past December and designed to combat chop
shops, Pennsylvania shops must photocopy the ID of anyone towing or
selling a vehicle or major component;
the law, requires that photocopy
(along with the name and license
number of the towing company) must
be maintained for three years, and law
enforcement agencies have the right to
inspect body shops or other automotive businesses (to look for stolen vehicles or parts) any time work is being
performed.
John Yoswick, a freelance writer
based in Portland, Oregon, who has
been writing about the automotive industry since 1988, is also the editor of
the weekly CRASH Network (for a free
4-week trial subscription, visit
www.CrashNetwork.com). He can be
contacted by email at:
jyoswick@SpiritOne.com.

People in several Summit County,
OH, communities were victims of
massive flooding, including some
body shop employees, as of July 12.
Using a boat was the only way Chris
Gnap could get to the body shop
where he works in Norton, OH.
“I had to drive through two feet
of water to even get close to here, so
I went and got my boat and brought
it down,” Gnap said.
Gnap and the owner of Norman
and Sons Body Shop, 3053 Barber
Rd, in Norton, say at least two and a
half feet of water was inside when the
flooding occurred on July 10.
“There’s probably an inch of
mud inside, worms everywhere,”
Gnap said. Part of Barber Road near
the shop at Interstate 76 was closed
because water still covers the road.
But that did not stop some drivers from chancing it, plowing through
the high water to get to the other side.
In neighboring Barberton, many
residential streets are still impassable
and some homes are still filled with
water, even where the flood itself has
receded, as of July 12.

www.autobodynews.com
CHECK IT OUT!

MI Couple Charged with Embezzling by Auto Glass Shop

Michigan Washtenaw County Judge
Archie Brown has set the trial dates
for a married couple accused of embezzling about $250,000 from A2
Auto Glass, according to a courthouse
official. The jury trial date for Oral
and Janice Molden is scheduled for
November 4, with the pre-trial hearing scheduled October 9. Charges
against the couple were first brought
in 2011, with new counts filed in December 2012, according to local reports. The couple is accused of
embezzling the money from the auto
glass company over a three-year period. Janice Molden, 45, was a bookkeeper for the company and Oral
Molden, 47, did computer work there.
Oral Molden is charged with false
pretenses of more than $20,000, false
pretenses of between $999 and
$20,000, making or permitting a false
tax return and malicious use of a
telecommunications service. Janice
Molden faces charges of embezzling
$100,000 or more, and $25,000 or
more, as well as more than $999 but
less than $20,000. She is also charged
with three counts of using a computer
to commit a crime. A2 Auto Glass
has locations in Ann Arbor and Jackson, MI, as well as a mobile service.

SkillsUSA Conference Yields
Silver Medal for MI Student

The SkillsUSA National Leadership
and Skills Conference was held June
25–28 in Kansas City, MO. Four students represented the St. Clair
County Technical Education Center
in Marysville, MI.
Adam Hoock, 18, of Capac,
who recently graduated, took a silver
medal in collision repair technology.
“It feels awesome,” Hoock said. “... I
was surprised. I was competing
against a lot of kids.”
Hoock had to fix dents in a
fender, work at a plastic repair station,
complete vertical and horizontal welding and do a frame damage analysis,
which required an interview and giving an estimate. He said he plans to go
into industry and collision repair by
working at Collex Collision Experts.
Nearly 6,000 outstanding career
and technical education students - all
state contest winners - will compete
hands-on in 98 different trade, technical and leadership fields.
Contests are run with the help of
industry, trade associations, and labor
organizations, and test competencies
are set by industry.
See coverage including video at:
www.skillsusa.org/events/nlscphotos.shtml

Allstate to Close Call Ctr in
Illinois, Cuts 379 Jobs

Allstate Corp. the largest publicly
traded U.S. home and auto insurer,
said it will cut about 379 employees
next month, or about 1 percent of its
workforce, by closing a call center in
Woodridge, Illinois.
The call center will close on
Aug. 11, Chris Bauer, a spokesman
for Northbrook, Illinois-based Allstate, said in an e-mailed statement to
The Chicago Tribune.
“More of our calls are now
being sent directly to our agencies,”
Bauer said. “This has resulted in
lower call volumes to our call centers, so the difficult decision was
made.”
Allstate had about 38,000 fulltime employees at year-end, according to a filing. It is among insurers
including Axa SA and Sun Life Financial Inc. that have sought to sell
life and annuities assets as low interest rates pressure returns.
The Illinois Department of
Commerce and Economic Opportunity said in a report today that Allstate notified the state in June that it
will cut 348 jobs in Woodridge next
month and 31 in Northbrook.

www.autobodynews.com

Burnsville, MN, Students
Go on to Engineering

Skills learned in the Burnsville High
School auto shop will take two recent
graduates to college, where both will
pursue engineering degrees. The
skills that two recent Burnsville High
School graduates learned in their high
school auto shop will soon take them
from under the hoods of cars into a
college classroom. While in high
school, Jacob Mischel and Nick Hernandez took multiple automotive
classes from teacher Russ Tesmer,
and both plan to use that foundation
to study engineering at four-year colleges in the fall.
Mischel plans on majoring in
electrical engineering at North
Dakota State University and Hernandez will pursue mechanical engineering at the University of St. Thomas.
The students’ plans show just
how versatile coursework in career
and technical education can be, said
Tesmer. “Having this background …
it really helps students who are interested in engineering as well as being
automotive technicians,” said Tesmer,
who has been teaching at Burnsville
since 2000.
“These guys are using their automotive knowledge as something to
build on.”
12 AUGUST 2013 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

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Steve Belknap, Illinois Shop Owner, Restores 1947 Ford Pickup Found Roadside
Three years ago, Steve Belknap,
owner of Belknap Auto Body Inc. in
Lake Barrington, IL, spotted a wornout 1947 Ford pickup sitting for sale at
the side of the road. He paid $4,000 for

it, and resisting the urge to restore it to
a gleaming, sparkling show piece,
Belknap spent about $2,000 and a few
hours to make some basic safety upgrades, like brakes. With its original
paint, Belknap took his relic to the
2012 Barrington Concours d’Elegance
and won Most Coveted Vehicle Award.
Belknap opted to keep his highway find as original as possible with
its intact glass, floorboards and untouched engine. He didn’t want to do
anything more necessary than fix what
was falling apart.
Belknap drove the 66-year-old
truck home and within a week, was

driving it everywhere. If the weather
is nice, he drives it.
“Nothing makes me happier than
driving the truck” in its well-used condition, he said. “It was built for work
and I don’t think a pristine restoration
on an old truck is appropriate.”
Belknap’s story was featured in the
local paper, the Daily Herald, and he
described the modifications he made:
“I rebuilt the brakes because only
one wheel cylinder was working, and
replaced the carburetor,” Belknap
said. Other maintenance items included a rebuilt distributor and fuel
pump, new fuel lines and replacement
tubes in the tires. The only upgrade is
a set of dual exhausts.

“The heat riser in the exhaust
manifold seized and snapped off while
I was working on it. Nothing would
seat right with it gone,” he said.

Undeterred, Belknap located a vintage set of Fenton exhaust manifolds,
allowing for the dual pipes. “It ended
up being a great modification. The V-8
runs better and sounds better, too.”
While very little has been added,
there are some things that have been
removed. “A previous owner had installed incorrect seat belts and turn signals, which I took off,” Belknap said.
He also added a new covering for
the bench seat.
“I didn’t want to reupholster but
the original material had been patched
too many times, dried out and became
brittle. It was beyond uncomfortable,”
he said.
The dented and battered body
only received a few welds to keep the
fenders from vibrating off. “I avoided
extensive body work to preserve the
original paint, which still covers the
majority of the truck,” he said.
Unfortunately, the previous
owner couldn’t pass on many details
regarding the Ford’s history, but Belknap has uncovered several clues. “I
found 1953 registration in the glove
box from northern Wisconsin.” In addition, Belknap found a 1947 mimeo-

graphed movie bill caught in a crevice
on the underside.
In its earlier days, the Ford pickup
was worked hard.
“It clearly grew up on a farm, acquiring reasonable dents here and
there. By looking at a couple of the
makeshift repairs on the truck, you
can tell when a farmer needed to get it
back on the road,” he said. For example, when a bolt broke on the tailgate,
it was simply welded shut.

Belknap, who has owned his
shop for 19 years, had the doors custom painted with lettering that resembles an old-time look, right down to
the shop’s phone number, which reflects an early Barrington area code.
Steve can be reached by phone at:
(847) 382-9433 or email: steve@belknapautobodyinc.com

www.autobodynews.com | AUGUST 2013 AUTOBODY NEWS 13

Inside Insurance
with The Insurance Insider

The Insider is a corporate-level executive with a Top 10 auto insurer
in the U.S.. Got a comment or question you’d like to see him address
in a future column? Email him at Auto.Insurance.Insider@gmail.com

Insurers Hate to Admit It, But Our Success Depends On You and Your Estimators

Every insurance company knows that
their profitability and loss cost expense relative to auto claims has many
independent variables. We often have
no control over them. For an obvious
example, we can’t ask Mother Nature
to reduce the number of hurricanes
that ravage areas bordering the ocean.
And we have no control over the number of accidents that our policyholders
are involved in.
On the flipside, there are some
variables within our control—to varying degrees, to be sure, but within our
control nonetheless. I’m referring to
our staff adjusters. If our staff is well
trained, if we maintain strict operating
procedures, and if we provide proper
oversight of our employees, we can
reduce our overall loss cost expense.
Therefore, most insurance carriers spend a lot of time and money to
train and supervise their staff. In addition, they regularly make large capital
investments to purchase or develop
tools to automate an additional level of
oversight. The challenge is that even
the best electronic tools can’t replace
the effectiveness of a human being.
Several insurance carriers have
made a especially significant commitment to education. Allstate is one example. They are the largest insurer
that requires their staff to be I-CAR
Platinum. That’s quite an investment
for a company that was recently reported as being on the verge of dropping into the third spot among the
largest carriers in the United States.
(Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Not so long ago, Allstate was a lock
solid No. 2 and looking for ways to
knock State Farm off its pedestal. Instead, Allstate finds itself being pulled

down by an otherwise benign Englishaccented lizard. Er, I mean gecko. At
any rate, I’m sure it’s creating mayhem within Allstate.)
One thing is for certain: When a
company begins losing market share,
it causes them to ratchet down on expenses. Let this serve as your advanced warning: Allstate likely will be
stingier than ever.
What makes Allstate’s investment
in educating their staff even more interesting is the fact that other large carriers (including several I’ve worked
for) don’t require any training. Some
may wonder if they are taking an opposite strategy, sort of a “survival of
the dumbest.” As Forrest Gump famously said, “Stupid is as stupid
does.” If you don’t know how to properly write an estimate, nobody can
blame you for trying to cheat them.
There are dozens of other independent variables that impact loss
costs, but let’s focus on “dependent
variables.” A dependent variable is
loosely defined as those things that insurance companies depend upon a collision repair shop for. I never thought
I’d say that we depend upon shops but
we do.
Most of you are probably guessing that we depend on you for proper
part selection or cycle time. Although
both of those are critically important
to controlling loss costs and improving profitability, there is one even
more key variable. An insurance company’s loss costs have less to do with
your standard operating procedures or
part type selection than they do with
your estimator.
Your profitability and our loss
cost expense ultimately are based on

Car-O-Liner Gets Honda Approval As Official Supplier

Car-O-Liner has announced participation in American Honda’s Tool and
Equipment Programs as an official
approved supplier of collision repair
products. The programs offer the advantage of one-stop shopping for all
service tool and equipment needs.
Equipment has been selected for
these specific manufacturers in order to
enhance collision centers’ productivity
and efficiency while properly returning
the vehicles to factory specifications.

“Car-O-Liner is pleased to be a
part of Honda’s and Acura’s Tool and
Equipment Programs,” said Peter
Richardson, key accounts manager
for Car-O-Liner.
“Adding Car-O-Liner to their
approved equipment offering means
greater flexibility, accuracy and efficiency. Our complete solutions will
provide Honda and Acura collision
centers with the products they need to
maximize their repair potential.”

14 AUGUST 2013 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

your estimator’s ability to write an accurate estimate, manage a claim and
follow our guidelines. If you have an
experienced estimator that understands a particular carrier’s program
guidelines, you are better off than 90
percent of the people reading this article. You should make sure that he or
she is well compensated. The skills
they have are about as rare as you receiving labor time for prime, block
and fill on a repaired panel.
That individual can turn a company around and make a historically
unsuccessful shop successful. I’ve
seen shops that have performed at a
high level for years fail miserably
when their lead estimator left. Collision repair shops that have the
most astute owner, ironclad operational procedures and long-tenured
technicians have come to a screeching halt when they lose the glue of
the operation provided by a good estimator.

I’m sure it is going to cost some
shop owners money when their estimator realizes he’s worth far more
than you are paying him. Great technicians are probably more difficult to
replace, but you can overcome the loss
with an average technician and strong
estimator.
I’ve been in meetings where
shops beg to remain on a program
after a few months of poor performance. They are quick to indicate that
they have lost their best estimator.
Without trying to sounding heartless, I
don’t care about that. My job isn’t to
help you manage your operation. Our
goal is to make sure that the best
shops are repairing our customer’s
cars. If you can’t do it, we’ll gladly
take our work to the shop owner that
realizes that having only one All-Star
on your team is poor planning.
So do you have a contingency
plan? If you don’t, today would be a
good day to start making one.

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Naperville, IL 60540

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www.autobodynews.com | AUGUST 2013 AUTOBODY NEWS 15

Historical Snapshot
with John Yoswick

—John Yoswick is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon, who has a body
shop in the family and has been writing about the automotive industry since 1988.
He is the editor of the weekly CRASH Network (for a free 4-week trial subscription,
visit www.CrashNetwork.com). Contact him by email at jyoswick@SpiritOne.com.

A Look Back at this Month in Collision News History
This month we begin a new type of
column that takes a look back at this
month in collision history 20, 15, 10
and 5 years ago. You may be surprised
how many issues we think of as recent
concerns were in the news back then.
Keep in mind that these stories may
have turned out differently than the
way they were reported at the time.
Where they did, we attempt to clarify
the later outcome.

20 years ago (August 1993)
Collision repairers may soon be hearing about EXACT, a Colorado-based
foundation that wants to see body
shops take part in an early trial of its
autobody repair standards.
So far, the foundation’s executive
director, Phil Freeman, has sent out applications for membership to repairers
in Rochester, NY, and Chicago. If they
take part, shops pay $3,160 after undergoing extensive training, testing
and certification. While shops may

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Have
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balk at paying yet another fee for another organization that’s supposed to
bring them success, EXACT wants to
establish comprehensive industry standards that will be for autobody work
what building codes are for building
contractors.
“One of the things we’re trying to
do is keep it out of the hands of lawmakers,” Freeman said. “A legislator
could come in and try to establish
something for an industry he’s not too
familiar with.”
Already EXACT has spent three
years writing up 140 pages of repair
standards that Freeman expects to become even more refined over the years.
Called the Uniform Autobody Repair
Code, the standards will have to be approved by the collision repair industry.
“They’ve been through a technical
committee of 27 shop owners,” Freeman said. “We anticipate approval
around the first of the year.”
►The EXACT Foundation sub-

VOLVO GENUINE PARTS

sequently reached an agreement with
I-CAR under which that organization
would continue to develop, manage
and market the code under the name
Uniform Procedures for Collision Repair (UPCR)

15 years ago (August 1998)
I-CAR also made two significant announcements about its Uniform Procedures for Collision Repair (UPCR)
at its annual meeting. First, Toyota
Motor Sales USA, Inc., has agreed to
provide its Toyota and Lexus collision
repair manuals for inclusion with the
UPCR. Beginning with the January
update to the UPCR, subscribers will
have access to the same collision repair technical information made available to Toyota and Lexus dealers.
I-CAR’s Tom Mack said he hopes
Toyota is just the first of many vehicle
manufacturers to make their collision
repair manuals available to UPCR
subscribers.

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The second announcement about
the UPCR made at the meeting was
that 20th Century Insurance Company
has become the first insurer to purchase the UPCR for widespread use
by its employees.
John Bierer of 20th Century said
he was charged earlier this year with
improving the consistency of the estimating, adjusting and reinspection efforts of the insurer’s staff. He said
after reviewing the UPCR with his
claims office management, he presented it to his superiors as the solution they were looking for.
“Each one of our adjusters, our
quality control reinspectors, our supervisors and mangers will have a
copy of UPCR on their laptops to use
in their adjusting, inspecting and quality control,” Bierer said, adding that
he hopes other insurers will follow
20th Century’s lead. ”I think it’s what
we’ve been looking for for quite some
time.”

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16 AUGUST 2013 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

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► I-CAR one year later shelved
its UPCR product, which included
collision repair procedures as well as
vehicle and product manufacturerspecific information, saying sales
were “reasonably underwhelming,”
but a revival of UPCR has been raised
by some during more recent discussions of collision repair standards.

10 years ago (August 2003)
(From Autobody News): Aftermarket
parts manufacturers and CAPA are
likely vexed by the newly-released
“Crash Parts Certification Study”
published by the California Bureau of
Automotive Repair (BAR). The report
blasts the parts certification process,
concluding that “certification has no
value to the customer…If there are
problems with the certified product,
the certifying entity does not stand behind their own certification process.”
Legislation enacted in 2001 authorized $125,000 to be spent by the
BAR, a sub-agency of the California
Department of Consumer Affairs, to
study the best process for certifying
crash parts, and to designate the agency
to bear responsibility for overseeing
crash parts certification. For two-anda-half years, the BAR held meetings

with repairers, insurers, OEMs and aftermarket parts certifiers. It sent out
surveys to auto body repair shops and
conducted field test on crash parts. In
the end, the BAR reached several conclusions, most notably:
● Elimination of non-certified aftermarket crash parts is not a viable
option. Outlawing non-certified aftermarket parts (as suggested by CAPA)
would make the market less competitive and leave a shortage of such parts.
● Certification does not protect
consumers from poor quality parts…
If the certifying entity warranted their
certified parts it would provide ‘added
value’ to the certified part, and protect
consumers against poor quality parts.
The study compared the CAPA
Quality Seal to the well-known Good
Housekeeping Seal of Approval. The
Good Housekeeping seal carried a
limited warranty stating that if any
product bearing the seal proves to be
defective within two years of the date
of purchase, the product will be replaced or the purchase price refunded.
“If CAPA or Global Validators feel
their certification parts fit the criteria
of their certification program, why
don’t they stand behind their certified
parts?” the BAR report asks.

5 years ago (August 2008)
The Progressive Insurance fraud lawsuit against Greg Coccaro and his
New York shop, North State Custom,
was dismissed. When Progressive
concluded presenting its evidence and
testimony, Coccaro’s attorneys moved
for a directed verdict (a standard practice in many cases) and Judge Mary
Smith granted the motion, dismissing
the case, saying Progressive had not
presented sufficient credible evidence
for the trial to continue.
Coccaro issued a press release
saying he was “elated with the Judge’s
decision” and “extremely grateful and
touched by all of the support and encouragement shown by fellow members of the collision repair industry.”
“We are disappointed by the
court’s decision, and we plan to appeal,” spokeswoman Cristy Cote of
Progressive Insurance.
► Progressive indeed appealed and
the case was retried, only to have a jury
find Coccaro not guilty in 2010; Coccaro
earlier this year reached an out-of-court
settlement with the insurer just days before trial was set to begin in his tortious
business interference lawsuit against
Progressive (terms of the settlement are
subject to a non-disclosure clause).

Continued from Page 3

NC Short Pay
could no longer accept insurer-dictated
repair costs. We found that short-pay litigation was necessary to stop insurer underpayments and provide our customers
with the factory-certified repairs their
policy affords them.” Bradshaw credited
Erica Eversman, Ray Gunder, Barrett
Smith and many other industry experts as
well as his legal team of Jason A. Orndoff and William E. Morgan for his legal
victory. “I hope our actions and results
encourage other quality-minded repairers to seek similar actions against the
less-than-ethical insurers,” said Bradshaw. “We learned a great deal in this initial case, and I have had to embark on
two more cases against Nationwide for
short-pays in the amounts of $5,663.24
and $10,135.52. I’m confident we will
prevail as I know we are in the right. I
know such actions are necessary to stop
such behavior and to best serve our community members, our employees and our
company. We’ll continue to share our efforts with others so they may know that
they no longer have to accept insurer dictation of repairs, rates, materials and
charges.”

NASCAR’s Carl Edwards Drives ‘Sweepstakes’ on Henry Ford’s 150th
Birthday Celebration in Honor of Fords’s One and Only Race
When NASCAR superstar Carl Edwards hopped aboard Sweepstakes,
the 1901 race car built by Henry Ford,
he wasn’t exactly sure what to expect
from the ride. But much like it did for
Ford in his victory over Alexander

of Henry Ford, invited Edwards out to
Greenfield Village to learn more about
the history of the vehicle, meet with
Sweepstakes Engineer Glenn Miller,
and eventually learn to drive the 1901
machine.
“This is the coolest car I have
ever driven, no doubt about it.
There isn’t even a close second,”
said Edwards on the grounds of
Greenfield Village at The Henry
Ford. “It may not look like much
standing here, or on video, but I
am telling you that is one of the
scariest things I have ever done.
Coming around that turn back
Ford Racing NASCAR superstar Carl Edwards was given there, there are no brakes. I don’t
the honor of driving the legendary Sweepstakes race car know how those guys did that
built and raced to victory by Henry Ford in his one and
because we were only going
only race in 1901
what, eight miles per hour? They
Winton, the time spent at the wheel of drove this thing near 70 mph back in
the historic vehicle changed his life 1901. That is just insane.”
forever.
Sweepstakes carried Henry Ford
to victory in the first and only race he
Edwards joined Hall of Famer
ever drove — the race against AlexanDale Jarrett as the second NASCAR
der Winton on October 10, 1901, in
driver allowed behind the wheel of the
Grosse Pointe, Michigan. Since Ford
car, when he took it for a spin June 13,
was the underdog, and the local fa2013. Edsel B. Ford II, great-grandson

vorite who defeated one of the best
and most successful racers in the
country, his victory was popular and
widely publicized.
In fact, Ford’s win changed
everything for him, and ultimately the

“To think that this car is what
started this whole thing is just amazing.” Edwards reflected. “If it weren’t
for this, there might not be a Ford
Motor Company, there might not be a
Ford Racing, and a lot of people’s, including my own, paths would
be very different.”
Henry Ford’s 1901 Sweepstakes race car is part of the
Racing in America collection at
Henry Ford Museum and is on
display daily.
“Sweepstakes is one of the
key, paradigm-changing cars in
our collection at The Henry
Ford,” said Christian Overland,
Edwards drove the car around the grounds of Greenfield
executive vice president of The
Village at The Henry Ford, under the guidance of
Sweepstakes Engineer Glenn Miller and the watchful
Henry Ford. “To be able to
eye of Henry Ford’s great-grandson, Edsel B. Ford II
have someone like Carl come
out and experience what Mr. Ford felt
history of the auto industry. Several
when he drove Sweepstakes back in
people watching that day came forward with offers of financial support, 1901 is important in helping others
understand the challenge he was facwhich set him on the road to establishing Ford Motor Company in June ing that day going against the best
driver in America. The result of that
1903. Ford went on to prove his belief
race changed the automotive world as
in low-cost production with the Model
we know it.”
T, the car that put the world on wheels.

ASRW 2014
Thursday, July 31 – Collision Repair Education Foundation Golf Outing
Thursday & Friday, July 31–Aug.
1 – NACE Education & Expo
Saturday, Aug. 2 – Education &
Hosted Industry Tours
“Co-locating NACE with the ICAR and CIC conferences in July and
creating Industry Week represents the
beginning of a new era for our industry, and this is extremely exciting. Professionals in the industry can now
truly take ONE week and participate
in all the meetings they need involving the industry’s most influential in-

dividuals and organizations, attend all
the conferences, walk the show, network, and receive the education critical to their business success,” said
Risley. “Beyond the events already
mentioned, there will be innumerable
opportunities for attendees and exhibitors because it’s located in Detroit,
the heart of the automotive industry.
Additional announcements will be
forthcoming in the ensuing months
but suffice it to say, if you are a ‘car
person’ you will not leave the city disappointed.”
John Van Alstyne, I-CAR CEO
& President, shared his enthusiasm,
“Industry Week is an opportunity to
bring more of the industry together
and simplify coordination of scheduling for all events, which we believe

will be valued by the industry.” He
added, “Industry Week will present attendees with excellent educational,
knowledge–building, and networking
opportunities; and I-CAR’s longstanding July Conference, which has
been aligned with CIC for many
years, will remain an independent
event that will now take place under
the new umbrella of Industry Week.
Additionally, the annual fund–raiser
for the Collision Repair Education
Foundation will continue to be held
the same week, offering a fantastic social networking opportunity while
raising money for a great cause that
helps us to sustain the future of our industry.”
“The Collision Industry Conference looks forward to meeting during

this time when all groups come together,“ stated Jeff Hendler, Founder,
Collision Industry Conference. “The
more often that all entities attempt to
share the calendar with the varying
functions of meetings, educations,
trade displays, and networking opportunities, the better it is for those who
attend. Everyone and every entity
stands to benefit.”
“The Collision Industry Conference looks forward to building upon
our longtime alignment with I–CAR
to welcome ASA into the fold and
offer our collision industry stakeholders the opportunity to attain even more
industry knowledge, make even more
valuable industry connections, and
conduct even more business,” said
George Avery, CIC Chairman. “Better
yet, Industry Week lets them do it all
in one week, under one roof, and in
the heart of the Motor City to enable
everyone to maximize their time and
travel.”
Additional details on each event
taking place during Industry Week
2014 will be released by each organization in the coming months. Hotel details will be available in the near future.
More information will soon be
available at http://www.naceexpo
.com, http://www.i-car.com, and
http://www.cic.com.

ASRW Will Have Main Stage
with Rotating Speakers

ASRW 2013 will have a brand new
area on the show floor called the
ASRW Main Stage. Located prominently on the expo floor, the ASRW
Main Stage will showcase a different industry speaker every hour during show hours. ASRW will take
place Thursday and Friday, Oct. 1718, with education beginning
Wednesday, Oct. 16, at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las
Vegas. A total of 12 speakers will
comprise the ASRW Main Stage,
with six speakers on Thursday and
six speakers on Friday. The ASRW
Main Stage presentations will take
place each hour between 10 a.m. and
3 p.m. “The powerful slate of speakers and topics planned for the ASRW
Main Stage make it the first of its
kind,” stated Dan Risley, ASA executive director. “Attendees won’t
find these speakers in one place at
any other event.” Seating will be on
a first-come, first-served basis as
tickets/registration will not be required. Additional details, including
the full schedule of ASRW Main
Stage speakers and topics, will be
announced in coming weeks.

Chrysler is recalling certain model
year 2013 Town & Country and
Dodge Grand Caravan vehicles manufactured June 11, 2013, through June
12, 2013. The occupant restraint control module (ORC) has incorrect software installed which may adversely
affect air bag deployments in collisions. Thus, these vehicles fail to conform to the requirements of Federal
Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No.
208, “Occupant Crash Protection” and
No. 214, “Side Impact Protection.”

Japan’s Toray Industries Inc. has
taken a minority stake in U.S. auto
carbon fiber supplier Plasan Carbon
Composites Inc. in a move underlining the potential growth for carbon fiber parts. The 20 percent stake
comes as Plasan begins to launch its
biggest and highest profile project
—making two body panels for the
2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray.
The companies did not disclose financial terms of the deal.
Tokyo-based Toray has been
establishing development centers
globally to help speed the use of
carbon fiber in the auto market. The
investment in Plasan takes Toray’s
involvement further, and helps to
ensure a distribution channel to U.S.
automakers and to establish Toray
as part of a vertical integration system for the material.

Nissan Plans Major Reforms
in Buying, Shipping, Building

Nissan Motor Co. is attempting to
pare U.S. operating costs by rethinking the way it buys parts, builds cars
and moves cars and components
around the continent. U.S. executives
are looking for the cost reductions to
help Nissan meet CEO Carlos
Ghosn's "Power 88" business plan,
which calls for a global consolidated
operating profit of 8 percent by
March 2017.

General Motors Co. said it will recall
four 2012 Chevrolet Volts because of
an electronic glitch that could increase the risk of a crash — the first
recall of the Detroit automaker’s
plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. GM
says the electronic stability control
may not work as intended and increase the possibility of a crash in an
emergency braking incident. GM is
unaware of any crashes or injuries associated with this condition. This is
the first recall for the Volt since late
2010.

Ford Motor Co. said it will hire 3,000
salaried workers this year—800 more
than previously announced. Ford said
80 percent of the new employees will
be technical professionals with “new
skills.” The company expects 85 to 90
percent of those hires will be placed
within the state of Michigan. Ford said
it also plans to increase hourly employment by 12,000 by 2015.
“Engineers and technical professionals are in as much demand as our
cars, trucks and SUVs,” Felicia Fields,
Ford’s group vice president for human
resources, said in a statement. “Global
demand and increasing capacity in
North America and Asia requires that
we aggressively seek out technical professionals in order to continue our
growth.” The vast majority of the technical hires will be engineers in purchasing, manufacturing and product
development. About 200-300 will be
hired in IT-related fields. Fields said
some of the hires are attrition replacement, but more than two-thirds of the
hires will be new jobs. As a result of
the recession, Ford reduced its workforce by 13,000 salaried employees between 2006 and 2009, she said. “There
are some people that we did lose during that downturn that have skills and
capabilities that we absolutely welcome back into Ford, and some of
those employees have returned to
Ford,” Fields said, adding that there are
still many “new,” advanced skills that
require fresh talent.

22 AUGUST 2013 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

Ford to Recall 13K Vehicles
over Door Latches

The Ford Motor Co. said June 27 it
will recall about 13,100 vehicles for
door latches that may fail and cause
child safety locks to deactivate.
The Dearborn automaker will
recall three 2013 model-year vehicles
— the Explorer SUV, Taurus sedan
and Lincoln MKS sedan — built at
Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant.
Upon opening or closing a door, the
child safety lock may change from
“activated” to “deactivated.”
Ford said that no accidents or
injuries have been reported. As part
of the recall, dealers will test rear
door latches and child safety locks,
and replace the latch if necessary.
The affected vehicles, sold in
the U.S., Canada and Mexico, were
built between Nov. 29 and Dec. 12,
2012. The problem was first discovered on Dec. 6 during a routine audit,
the latch supplier identified a latch
with lower-than-expected child
safety lock retention torque. On Dec.
7, Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant
was notified of the condition and a
stop-ship was issued. Ford spent
months testing the issue, using accelerated testing on each vehicle line.
This is not the first time that
Ford has recalled model year 2013
Explorer, Taurus and Lincoln MKS
vehicles.

Japan’s Diamond Electric to
Pay $19M Price Fixing Fine

A Japanese manufacturer of ignition
coils that were sold to Ford, Toyota
and Subaru parent Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. has agreed to plead
guilty and pay a $19 million fine for
its role in a conspiracy to fix prices
of automotive components, the U.S.
Department of Justice said.
The plea agreement with Diamond Electric Manufacturing of
Osaka, Japan, marks the first time
that the Justice Department's broadening automotive parts price-fixing
probe has involved parts sold to an
automaker headquartered in the
United States, the government said
in a statement.

www.autobodynews.com

August 2013

GM and UTI Partner to Help
Grow Supply of Auto Techs

Universal Technical Institute has formalized an agreement with General
Motors Co. (GM) to develop a 12week elective training program for
UTI students. The program will first
be available at UTI’s Avondale campus. “The availability of qualified,
trained automotive technicians is and
will continue to be a critical area of
importance for GM,” said Mike
Durkin, Director Dealer Service and
Warranty Operations, at GM. “When
looking at UTI’s industry leading
curriculum, facilities and student and
employer support services, we knew
we had a solid partner to build something great with, supporting a growing need for technicians at our
dealerships across the country.”
The curriculum for the GM
elective program will be developed
in partnership between UTI, GM and
Raytheon Professional Services. For
more follow UTI on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/UTI, or on
Twitter at @UTITweet.

Rearview Cameras Delayed

The Obama administration is again
delaying regulations on whether new
cars and trucks must come equipped
with rearview cameras to protect
against drivers backing over people
in blind spots behind their vehicles, a
victory for automakers who say requiring the cameras is too costly.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Thursday in letters to three
members of Congress that more research is needed. He set a new deadline of January 2015 for the
regulations. An average of 228 people are killed and 17,000 injured each
year because of back-over accidents.
Nearly half the deaths involve children under age 10. The elderly also
frequently are victims. Congress
passed a law in 2008 requiring the
government to issue final regulations
aiming at protecting against backover accidents by Feb. 28, 2011, and
that the changes be in place for model
year 2014 vehicles. But the regulations have been delayed repeatedly.

Honda Reponds to Amended
Class Action Complaint

Honda has filed a response to an
amended class action complaint,
which alleges some of the automaker’s
vehicles have defective window regulators. In the case, Grodzitsky versus
American Honda Motor Co., the plaintiffs argue the window regulator defect
results in the sidelite falling into the
door frame or becoming stuck in the
fully-open position. Phyllis Grodzitsky, owner of a Honda Odyssey, and
Jeremy Bordelon of Tennessee, owner
of a Honda Element, alleged in the
original complaint that they reported
repeated failures of window regulators
in their vehicles. Grodzitsky further
claims that she contacted her local
Honda service manager and was told,
“all [Honda Odysseys] have that problem.”
In its response to the amended
complaint, the automaker’s attorneys
write, “Honda expressly denies that
‘all Honda Odysseys have that problem.” Honda’s attorneys deny most of
the allegations. Honda admits that
within some, but not all, vehicles that
are part of plaintiffs’ putative class definition, side windows are moved up
and down by a window regulator that
operates with a central track, a shuttle
and a cable, attached to a motor.

Volvo: Six State Class Action Should Not Be Certified

Citing a recent U.S. Supreme Court
decision, Volvo has filed a motion requesting that the U.S. New Jersey District Court reconsider certification of
a six-state class action over an alleged
sunroof defect. In March, Judge Dennis Cavanaugh granted plaintiffs’ motion for certification of statewide
classes in Massachusetts, Florida,
Hawaii, New Jersey, California and
Maryland.
“In doing so, the court rejected
Volvo’s argument that certification of
plaintiffs’ statewide classes was improper because, among other reason,
plaintiffs had offered no proof that
class-wide damaged could be proved
with common evidence,” Volvo’s attorneys argue in the motion. “Rather,
the court relied on the allegations of
the second-amended complaint to
conclude that the relief sought by the
plaintiffs applies to all members of the
certified classes. The United States
Supreme Court issued its opinion in
Comcast Corp. versus Behrend...
[which] makes clear that the court’s
decision to certify a class without any
showing that damages can be proved
on a class-wide basis was in error. The
court should reconsider and reverse its
decision,” the attorneys write.

Future Looks Bright for U.S.
Auto Industry, Hiring, Sales

The auto industry is about to go on a hiring spree as car makers and parts suppliers race to find engineers, technicians
and factory workers to build the next
generation of vehicles. The new employees will be part of a larger, busier
workforce. From coast to coast, the industry is in top gear. Factories are operating at about 95 percent of capacity, and
many are already running three shifts. As
a result, some auto and parts companies
are doing something they’ve been reluctant to consider since the recession:
Adding floor space and spending millions of dollars on new equipment.
“We’re really bumping up against
the edge,” says Michael Robinet, managing director of IHS Automotive,
which forecasts auto production. “So it
really is brick-and-mortar time.”
The auto industry’s stepped-up hiring will help sustain the nation’s job
growth and help fuel consumer spending. The government said U.S. employers added 175,000 jobs in May, roughly
the monthly average for the past year and
a sign of the economy’s resilience. U.S.
consumer confidence has reached a fiveyear high. The auto industry’s outlook is
bright. Vehicle sales for 2013 could
reach 15.5 million, the highest in six
years.

OEMs, CARE, and AAIA Seek
Solution to Right to Repair

At a hearing on New Jersey Right to
Repair bill, representatives of AAIA
and CARE along with auto OEMs
said they want to develop a national
solution on the right to repair issue.
Hope to conclude an agreement by
the end of July. ASA believes its
2002 deal with manufacturers is
working. After more than a decade
of effort to pass legislation, first at
the Federal-level, then at the statelevel, some of the organizations supporting Right to Repair legislation
appear to be seeking a negotiated solution with automakers. In testimony
before the Consumer Affairs Committee of the New Jersey State Legislature on Assembly Bill 352, the
Motor Vehicle Owners Right to Repair Act, Aaron Lowe, with the Automotive Aftermarket Industry
Association (AAIA) stated that
while they remain strong supporters
of right to repair legislation in the
states, nationally, they are in discussions with auto manufacturers on a
national solution. Lowe said that
after the passage of Right to Repair
legislation and the success of a later
ballot measure in Massachusetts,
AAIA and CARE began to seek a
national solution with OEMs.

www.autobodynews.com | AUGUST 2013 AUTOBODY NEWS 23

Bookkeeper Sentenced to Seven Years For
Theft from Florida Body Shop
Jennifer Vasseur could have gotten
six months in jail, but when she
couldn’t make restitution, she was
given a seven-year prison sentence.
As part of a plea deal, the 38-yearold Winter Haven woman had to
repay more than $20,000 that she
stole from A&E Auto Body in Eagle
Lake, where she worked as a bookkeeper and secretary. The deadline
was July 9. She was short about
$15,000. Her punishment was up to
Circuit Judge Catherine Combee to
decide. She ordered Vasseur to serve
seven years in prison followed by 10
years of probation.
Vasseur was arrested in May
2011 after an investigation by the
State Attorney’s Office in Bartow. She
wrote unauthorized checks in her
name, her husband’s name and to
cash, according to a complaint affidavit. Vasseur told investigators that
she took the money to help pay bills,
the affidavit states. In May, she
pleaded guilty to grand theft and making false entries on the books of a corporation.
During the hearing, Vasseur vowed
to “pay back every single penny.” She
asked for house arrest or probation. “I
will pay the money back,” she said.
“I’m not the person that I was.”
Victoria Arrington, owner of
A&E Auto Body, said she and her employees were supportive of Vasseur
while she worked there for four years.
She described many examples of as-

Nissan Will Add 900 Jobs for
Rogues Built in Tennessee

Nissan is adding 900 jobs to start
making the Rogue crossover SUV at
its Tennessee plant. The announcement is in addition to 800 jobs added
at the Smyrna plant last year, and will
bring total employment at the suburban Nashville facility to more than
7,000. Hiring is already underway
and Rogue production is scheduled
to begin this fall.
Building the Rogue in the
United States for the first time is part
of the Japanese automaker’s plan to
have 85 percent of its domestic sales
to be produced in North America.
This month marks the 30th anniversary of Nissan producing vehicles in the U.S. The plant in Smyrna
built its first pickup truck in June
1983. The plant also makes Nissan’s
most popular car, the midsize Altima
sedan, among other models.

sistance provided to Vasseur over the
years: getting her a car, paying to turn
her power on, giving her a computer,
providing her extra money to eat at
restaurants on the weekend, paying
for her cellphone, purchasing massages for her, helping with preparations for her wedding, offering to pay
for her to continue her education and
sending Vasseur’s daughter to a theater camp. Vasseur’s theft was painful,
but the business was able to carry on,
she said.
“We didn’t lose faith in people
though,” Arrington said. “We still
hire people, and we still trust them.
We could have been cynical, but we
believe that people are good.”
Prosecutors asked for a five-year
prison sentence. The judge went
higher, noting Vasseur’s past criminal history.
Vasseur said she didn’t know that
her plea deal exposed her to a sevenyear prison sentence, or she wouldn’t
have signed it. She thought the most
that she faced was 15 months in
prison. Vasseur was also ordered to
pay $20,729 in restitution.

State Farm’s Richardson, TX
Complex Keeps Growing
The size and cost of the big State
Farm Insurance office complex
under construction in Richardson,
TX, keeps growing. The regional
office campus under construction
at Plano Road and State Highway
190 now includes work on two office towers and parking garages,
according to building permits filed
with the City of Richardson.
The permits list the value of
the current “shell” construction at
$229 million. But that’s just for the
outside of the buildings. It doesn’t
include most of the mechanical, interior finish and other aspects of
the huge project being built by developer KDC and general contractor
Austin
Commercial.
Richardson building permits just
show part of the cost of the development. The entire project will
cost well over a half billion. A similar project near Phoenix is estimated at $600 million. Even more
construction is on the way at the
site in Richardson. Along with the
building that began back in April at
the southwest corner of S.H. 190,
work crews have now are clearing
land across the street on the east
side of Plano Road.

May OK Tornado Insurance
Claims: 75,000+, $687 M+

Insurance claims filed in response to
a major tornado outbreak in May
jumped to 75,758 Wednesday, with
insurance
payments
reaching
$687,945,276.
“The victims of these devastating tornadoes will be dealing with
the aftermath for quite a while,” said
Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner
John D. Doak. “The claim filings are
slowing down but they’re nowhere
near complete. Most policies allow
for claims to be turned in up to one
year from the date of loss. The Oklahoma Insurance Department is here
to help guide the victims through
some important decisions. We’re
committed to seeing this through to
the very end.”
The May 19th & 20th Tornadoes saw Private Auto claims of
22,126, costing $73,043,057. Commercial Auto was 478, totalling
$2,594,410. The May 30th & 31th
Tornadoes saw Private Auto at
11,684, costing $27,142,380. Commercial Auto was 497, costing
$1,962,854 “These numbers are
more proof of the dramatic impact
the tornadoes had on our state,” said
Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner
John D. Doak.

24 AUGUST 2013 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

Allstate Insurance Owners
Plan to Hire 400 Sales Staff

Allstate Insurance agency owners
across Texas are planning to hire at
least 400 licensed sales professionals
by the end of the year. Licensed sales
professionals play a pivotal role in
driving business for Allstate agencies
in growing states like Texas. They
work side by side with agency owners, educating and assisting customers with their insurance needs.
That’s why Allstate is encouraging its
nearly 1,000 agency owners to continue to build their agencies by hiring
top notch staff. Interested candidates
should have exceptional selling and
customer service skills, a high school
diploma and the ability to obtain or
begin the process of obtaining a
Property and Casualty license at the
time of hiring. “Sales positions with
Allstate agency owners are a great
opportunity for talented, motivated
people with strong communication
and customer service skills, to work
with a world-class brand and an experienced sales staff,” said Adam
Pisani, an Allstate agency owner in
the Houston area. “As agency employees, interested candidates will
become licensed sale professionals
and get the help, support and training
they need to help them succeed.”

Oregon Body Shops Grade Insurance Companies
State Farm and two smaller Northwestbased auto insurers continue to be
among the best at taking care of their
customers after an accident. And some
of the other larger, best-known insurers—including GEICO, Safeco and
Farmers Insurance—are among the
worst.
That was the finding of the latest
survey of businesses that interact with
auto insurers on behalf of vehicle-owners every day: Oregon collision repair
shops.
“Just as medical providers see how
health insurers take care of patients, collision repair shops interact with auto insurers on a daily basis, so we feel it’s
worthwhile to ask how those insurers
treat Oregon drivers after an accident,”
said Barbara Crest, executive director
for the Northwest Automotive Trades
Association (NATA), which conducted
the survey of Oregon shops. “We believe their views will be helpful to insurance companies and consumers.”
More than 500 collision repair
shops throughout the state received the
survey, which asked them to grade the
Top 20 auto insurers in the state in
terms of how well each company’s

“policies, attitude and payment practices ensure quality repairs and customer service for Oregon motorists.”
This is the seventh time the association has conducted such a survey
since 2004. Crest pointed to a number
of items of interest in the findings of the
latest survey:
● Repairers have consistently
given the same three companies a grade
of B or better all seven times the survey
has been conducted. State Farm has
continued to hold on to the top spot, receiving an overall grade of B+ again
this year. But a Northwest insurance
company, Oregon Mutual, nudged up
from a B last year to also receive a B+
in the latest survey. Mutual of Enumclaw once again ranked third with a B.
State Farm is the largest auto insurer in
Oregon: Mutual of Enumclaw and Oregon Mutual are ranked 12th and 13th,
respectively.
● In addition to Oregon Mutual,
six other insurers saw their grades improve from the 2012 survey. Travelers
became the fourth-highest graded insurer by earning a B- (up from a C+ last
year). Progressive, Ameriprise and
Country Companies each moved up

half a grade to C+.
● Although the same four insurers
were on the bottom of the rankings for
the third straight year, the order
amongst them changed because Allstate
improved to a C (from a C-) and Geico
brought its D+ in 2012 up to a C- this
year.
● Progressive’s improvement is
notable given that it had a D+ or worse
(and the lowest or second-lowest ranking) in every survey between 2004 and
2009. Even last year it was ranked 16th
on the list with a C, but this year moved
to 8th with a C+.
● Although Allstate still only receives an average grade, that’s an improvement over the D or D+ it received
in each survey between 2008 and 2011.
● Three insurers saw their grades
drop. USAA, which ranked fourth last
year, dropped behind Travelers and
Kemper/Unitrin when it received a C+
rather than the B- it did last year. American Family and Liberty Mutual also
dropped half a grade.
● Farmers and Safeco received a
“F” from about one-in-four shops, the
most failing grades received by any insurer. (By comparison, GEICO, the

third-lowest graded insurer, received
about half as many Fs as Farmers.)
State Farm received an “A” from well
over half of shops.
● In most cases, the grades given a
particular insurer from shops involved
in that insurer’s direct repair program
(DRP) were higher than those given by
shops that are not part of that insurer’s
program. This was particularly true
with USAA and The Hartford; their
DRP shops gave them grades of A- or
better while non-DRP shops gave these
same insurers grades of C or C+. But
even American Family and Farmers Insurance direct repair shops gave those
insurers only average grades of C.
“Collision repairers say the insurers receiving the highest grades—which
includes both larger and smaller insurance companies—do the best job of taking care of Oregon drivers after an
accident,” Crest said. “We hope consumers will take these ratings into account when choosing an auto insurer,
and that insurers that received lower
grades will work to improve their performance.”
More than 70 shops throughout
Oregon responded to the survey.

From OEM to aftermarket, see all the
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Repairer-Only Rountable Airs the Issues Important to Repairers
by Chasidy Rae Sisk

For the sixth time since the Repairer’s
Roundtable began over a year ago,
collision repairers from across the nation gathered for three and a half hours
on Tuesday, July 23 at the Westin
Boston Waterfront. The exclusive
event intended only for representatives
of collision repair businesses was
hosted by AASP-MA, but while
Aaron Schulenburg, Executive Director of the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS), was present
to kick off the meeting, he repeatedly
told the attendees that the “goal here
is to have discussion from everyone in
the room,” stressing the concept of
“your agenda, your meeting.”
Over forty individuals gathered to
discuss current concerns with the collision repair industry and possible solutions. The dialogue began with a
local shop owner objecting to the fact
that Massachusetts has the lowest
labor rates in the country, a travesty he
partially attributed to steering. Regarding a possible solution, it was
suggested that there could be a national campaign to promote consumer
awareness and education; distributing
a common message to association
members who would, in turn, relay the
information to their customers seemed
to be the most viable option for disseminating this important message.
As options for educating consumers were introduced and debated,
one suggestion was to distribute a nationally consistent message through social media, on either a weekly or
monthly basis. Another suggestion was
made to provide and disseminate prepackaged material for social media
consumption. Tony Ferraiolo, President of the Auto Body Association of
Connecticut (ABAC), emphasized the
need for a joint effort between national
and local associations as well as shops
to promote the message, noting “insurer steering is easy because consumers just don’t know.”
In addition to utilizing social
media, the group endorsed the effectiveness of Public Service Announcements as consistent with the way
consumers obtain their information,
directing them to association websites
for further information. Ferraiolo acknowledged that there are no simple
solutions, “but we can do a better job
of educating consumers” through the
vast array of technology not being uti-

lized currently.
Seeing a parallel between consumers and repairers when it comes to
the distribution of information, Schulenburg noted that lots of information
intended for collision repair shops is
never utilized, asking what the key to
inspiring the use of these resources
could be. One attendee noted that

terested in vehicles being repaired
properly. The ideas that shops are expected to invest in additional training
without expecting any return on their
investment led Schulenburg to ask, “is
this really an issue of whether or not
we should invest in training and
equipment, or is the model of how we
do business broken?”
As participants discussed
which issues to tackle later in the
meeting, one participant compared the collision repair industry to a sinking ship; though
there may be many leaks, the
first step is to find the biggest
hole and plug it up. Many participants pointed to the low levels
of local collision repairer business representation in the room.
(l to r): Tony Ferraiolo, Peter Abdelmaseh & Tony
Lombardozzi immediately conLombardozzi at Repairer’s Roundtable
curred, citing an overarching apOEMs will be funding Public Service
athy in the industry as the biggest
Announcements this fall to explain
obstacle faced. Most repairers see the
that new vehicles which are being reproblems, but they assume that someleased cannot be safely repaired the
one else will fix them. This apathy alsame way as older vehicles, but the
lows others (insurers, OEMs and so
message has nothing to do with sellforth) to assume control of the indusing more OEM parts. It’s about maintry, but Lombardozzi insists, “we
taining the safety and value of the
don’t need anyone [else] to tell us
vehicles. It also stresses that modern where we’re headed; the experts in our
repairs require specific educational
industry need to determine where
and equipment components and that
we’re going.”
the fact that the industry is changing.
Peter Abdelmaseh, former ExecThe conversation turned to the isutive Director of AASP-MA, added that
sues surrounding manufacturer certifithere is a huge distrust of associations
cations with some repairers seeing the
within the industry, and it is necessary
value of becoming certified while oth- to look outside the associations to uners, such as Tony Lombardozzi, Presderstand their limitations. They can’t do
ident of the Coalition for Collision
everything repairers want them to do
Repair Excellence (CCRE), took a
unless they are strengthened. Another
more skeptical view. Lombardozzi
repairer pointed out that it is impossible
asked “what good is a certification?
to overcome this distrust if those reIt’s just a piece of paper that says you
pairers are not in the room.
have knowledge, but you can have
In addition to the difficulties in
knowledge without that paper.” He
getting away from their businesses and
suggested that this issue may create
spending money to attend events and
crises in the industry as a shop can
meetings, low self-esteem is a major
have all the proper training and equipcontributing reason that many repairment and still not complete the repair
ers opt against participating in associcorrectly.
ations and industry events, according
This debate led to a general questo Lombardozzi who believes “the
tion: do repairers trust OEMs? Several
only way we can change that is to
clarified that their issues with manu- bring the message to them.”
facturer certifications are less related
Nearly all of the attendees agreed
to trust than ‘pecuniary inequalities,’ that too many third parties are inserting
especially in the MA market where
themselves into the collision business,
labor rates are so low, making it diffiso repairers must be very cautious
cult to pay the costs associated with
when deciding who to partner with.
the certification. Several attendees
As the roundtable continued,
then engaged in a conversation about
many topics were broached without
OEMs offering training to independ- being pursued in great depth. There
ent repair facilities because they’re inwas some discussion about repair

26 AUGUST 2013 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

standards, and several attendees expressed concern with the domineering
growth that multi-shop organization
(MSOs) are taking in the industry and
how this will affect smaller shops’
competitive abilities. However, one
opposing view suggested that the recent interest of private equity firms
and their decision to invest in MSOs
could see these firms taking a stand to
demand the right to establish their
own pay rates which could, in turn,
benefit the entire industry.
Schulenburg’s inquiry regarding
how to take the voices of those in attendance and present it at larger forums, led to an impassioned
discussion about CIC’s agenda and
significance to actual collision repairers. Several expressed belief that CIC
has abdicated their role as a leading
organization in the collision industry.
Some expressed sentiments that they
feel CIC has been “overtaken” by
special interests and no longer works.
The discussion of third-party interference led back to repair standards
and who should be involved in the
process of establishing and implementing them. Most attendees agreed
that the creation and establishment of
repair standards has nothing to do
with insurers and should be left to
OEMs and repairers, yet there were
some dissenting views about whether
insurers should play a role in the implementation of the standards since
they do possess their own areas of expertise that may be important in this
part of the process.
Many of the attendees agreed it
was necessary to walk away from the
meeting with at least one unified position that could be shared as a consensus of the repairers represented at
the meeting, and this particular topic
was chosen by the audience participants. The repairers in attendance
represented as wide a diversity as exists in the collision industry—single
location and both regional and national multi-shop operators, DRP
and independent shops, family-run
business and dealerships—but even
in the diversity, there was commonality in their beliefs. The discussion
concluded that nearly all in attendance felt it was important to convey
that any formulation of standards for
the collision repair industry should
be developed and managed by the
collision repairer, inviting in expertSee Repairer Roundtable, Page 38

Tom Franklin has been a sales and marketing consultant for fifty years. He has written
numerous books and provides marketing solutions and services for many businesses.
He can be reached at (323) 871-6862 or at tbfranklin@aol.com.
See Tom’s columns at www.autobodynews.com under Columnists > Franklin

Still Using a Quota System For Consumer Sales?
I was surprised recently to learn of a
shop that still uses sales quotas. As a
professional in marketing and sales, I
am very familiar with quotas, and the
pros and cons of the practice. It’s
likely that the various sales reps that
call on collision repair shops, selling
everything from computer systems,
estimating software and spray booths
to frame machines, are expected to
meet sales quotas. It’s also likely that
at the end of the month when a rep is
still way under his or her quota that
some drastic measures will be taken to
force yet one or two more sales. That’s
just the nature of using a sales quota
system.
But I had to ask what a collision
shop sales person could do to close
more business for the shop at the end
of the month? Earlier in the month he
or she could have gotten on the phone
and called prior customers, or placed
more follow-up calls to prospects who
brought in their vehicle and didn’t
leave it to be repaired. Or when the
shop has dealership connections, the
sales rep could push hard on the dealership service drive for collision work.
But at the end of the month, the story
would only be told with closed tickets. What could he or she do to push
that up to meet a quota?
I talked to one rep who said the
game begins when a customer brings
in a car to be repaired. The aggressive
rep on quota barely waits until the cus-

tomer is out the door before he or she
is on the phone to the customer’s insurance company to get an adjuster
out to look at the car. If the company
says five days, he or she immediately
contacts the customer to call and push
his or her insurance company to get
out to see the car in three days or less.
The rep also pushes for a quick teardown to expedite the parts orders and
avoid supplements.
If the end of the month is coming
quickly and some of that rep’s vehicles have still not been completed and
closed out, the rush is on to find out
why not. Delayed delivery of parts is
a hard problem to overcome, but supplements are a different story. I was
surprised to learn that a shop owner
willing to work with this kind of quota
pressure would permit a rep to go the
customer to approve a supplement if
the insurance company is holding
back on it. When the job is completed
if the insurance company hasn’t paid
for the supplement, the customer will
get the bill. Now the aggressive rep
has to convince the customer that he
or she will be able to collect back from
the insurance company eventually.
So here we arrive at why few
shops allow this kind of last minute
quota pushing. A customer who is
pushed to authorize supplements and
collect back from his or her insurance
company may not choose to use this
shop again. It was obvious this shop

ASA Meets with Administration Re MFN Clauses

Automotive Service Association
(ASA) leaders recently gathered in
Washington, D.C., to meet with administration and Capitol Hill officials
to discuss Most Favored Nation
clauses contained in some direct repair program (DRP) agreements with
insurance companies. ASA wrote administration officials in 2012 asking
that they also consider the impact of
MFN clauses on parties involved in
property and casualty insurance. Testimony by administration officials on
Capitol Hill to date have reflected
more interest in health insurance
agreements. ASA maintains that the
anti-competitive nature of the clauses
puts both consumers and collision
shops at a disadvantage. In 2010, the
U.S. Department of Justice filed a suit
against Blue Cross Blue Shield of

Michigan regarding the use of MFN
clauses. In 2012, the commissioner of
the Office of Financial and Insurance
Regulation of Michigan issued an
order, which prohibited the use and
enforcement of any MFN clause in a
health insurer provider contract that
has not been previously reviewed and
approved by the commissioner. The
Michigan legislature followed with a
ban on MFN clauses in health insurer
contracts.
The North Carolina legislature
approved House Bill 247, a bill that
restricts MFN use by allowing health
providers and health insurers to freely
negotiate reimbursement rates by prohibiting contract provisions that restrict rate negotiations. The bill has
been signed into law and will become
effective Oct. 1, 2013.

28 AUGUST 2013 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

owner put the highest value on quotas
and profits, while another might do
everything possible to not irritate a
customer. I could see that this shop is
highly profitable and capable of bringing in plenty of jobs without worrying
about retaining every customer in the
long run. I could also see why many
shop owners would shy away from
using quotas, but might there be a way
to do it without irritating and possibly
losing customers?
A long history of successful companies using sales quotas says they
serve an important purpose. Sales reps
are strongly motivated by sales contests, sales bonuses, commissions and
more. Even the mention of quotas
when hiring a rep will tell an owner
whether or not this person can work
with that kind of pressure. Many cannot and it’s best to determine this as
soon as possible. The pressure of having to meet a quota will probably
drive a laid-back employee crazy but

an aggressive sales type will thrive on
it and draw on a depth of ingenuity to
bring in or close business that otherwise could have slipped away.
After this conversation about
quotas, I asked a few other shop people whether or not they used quotas in
their shops. No one else I spoke to
used them, but there was often a
greater emphasis on targets and team
closing. It seemed to me that individual quotas could be difficult to manage in most collision shops, but given
the new emphasis on lean processes
and team production, I think there is
definitely a place for some sort of target or quota system.
At first glance this might not
seem applicable to a small, independent shop but perhaps that’s where it
may be needed most to “light a fire”
under sometimes complacent estimators and owners who now have to
compete in a much more ruthless collision repair marketplace.

LA CAA Featured BMW i3 Technology at June 19 Meeting
The Los Angeles chapter of the California Autobody Association met June
19 with 110 members in attendance to
view a special showcase of the new
BMW i3 technology.

Guest speaker Tom Brizuela,
body and paint technical team leader
for BMW North America, introducd
and reviewed the new BMW i3 platform that features carbon and aluminum composite technology. The
meeting included an actual cutaway
view of the BMW i3 platform to review the repair methodology crash
worthiness of its new generation platform.

Brizuela began working on cars
at age 15, with the dream of someday working for a car manufacturer.
He served in U.S. Marines as a
diesel/automotive technician and
graduated from National Technical College in Los Angeles
with an AS degree in
Automotive Diagnosis
and Repair.
Over the years, he
worked at independent
high-line and exotic
auto body repair shops,
restoration shops, and a
Mercedes Benz dealership, and in 1988 as
head paint technician
for BMW of North America, Inc. at
their Vehicle Processing Center in Oxnard, CA.
In 1990, Brizuela was promoted
to the BMW Service Training Department and began developing BMW’s
Body & Paint Service Technician Education Program (STEP). From 1991
to 1995, he was responsible for STEP
training at the BMW Montvale New
Jersey facility.

In 1995, Tom accepted a Body and Paint
training/curriculum development position with
Toyota Motor Sales,
USA, at their Los Angeles corporate headquarters. During this time,
he was promoted to
Body Service Group
Supervisor where he became responsible for
Toyota and Lexus body
and paint training development, technician certification, and training facility management.
In 2000, BMW of North America

committed to build a new body and
paint-training center in Oxnard, CA.,
to train entry-level technicians, and
BMW dealer technicians. He saw this
opportunity and returned to BMW as
Body and Paint Technical Team
Leader.
The meeting was held at Nick
Alexander Los Angeles Imports in
Huntington Park, CA.

Carlisle’s Blog
If you’re involved with the collision repair industry, you’ve no doubt
heard the hullaballoo regarding State
Farm and PartsTrader. For those who
haven’t, here’s a brief summary:
State Farm recently launched
PartsTrader, a mandatory online parts

rollout throughout the United States.
It’s clear that State Farm isn’t just
interested in an efficient online ordering platform. Otherwise, they could
just mandate that their Select Service
shops use any online platform for
parts ordering, and do this at no cost
to themselves. Instead, they’ve spent
millions of dollars on a brand-new online ordering platform. Why?
The collision parts market in the

There are two significant negative impacts for OEMs.
Loss of market share: A wider
reach throughout salvage yards and
aftermarket suppliers in the United
States for parts sourcing will eventually mean that more alternative parts
are used. This impacts OEM profitability and customer repair quality.
Financial harm to dealers: A
competitive marketplace means that

It’s clear that State Farm isn’t just interested in an efficient online ordering platform. Otherwise, they could just mandate that their Select
Service shops use any online platform for parts ordering, and do this
at no cost to themselves. Instead, they’ve spent millions of dollars on
a brand-new online ordering platform. Why?

ordering platform for their Select
Service (Direct Repair Program
(DRP)) shops. These Select Service
shops receive State Farm’s collision
customers in return for ceding some
control to the insurer. The parts ordering platform is meant to capitalize on
all the efficiencies of e-commerce, reducing the cost of parts by requiring
suppliers to submit competitive bids.
PartsTrader is undergoing a gradual

United States is about $16 billion. At
present, insurance carriers pay about
$10 billion dollars of that total, but have
little influence over the parts procurement process or pricing. State Farm’s
competitive online parts marketplace
provides leverage by pitting suppliers
against each other to offer the best price
on parts. Even a one percent reduction
in parts cost represents a $100 million
savings for insurance companies.

Texas Governor Signs Franchise Tax Bill

The Texas Franchise Tax legislation,
supported by the Automotive Service
Association (ASA) and ASA-Texas,
was included in Substitute House Bill
500, which recently passed the Texas
legislature, and has now been signed
by Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
Currently, automotive service
and collision repair shops owned and
operated by new or used car dealerships are taxed at half the rate used to
tax independent automotive repair facilities doing identical work. The
state classified new and used car
dealerships as “retail” operations, but
not independent repair operations.
The Texas state tax code classifies dealership sales as “retail” and allows their service and repair business
to be included under that banner. Independent automotive repairers have
not had the same opportunity.
The new law reclassifies independent repair shops as retail trade—
cutting their tax bill in half and giving

them a level playing field with car
dealerships.
The Texas Franchise Tax legislation, included in Substitute H.B.
500, states that “the activities classified as Industry Group 753 of the
1987 Standard Industrial Classification Manual published by the federal
Office of Management and Budget
fall under Retail Trade,” addressing
the Texas inequity.
ASA thanks its Texas members
for rallying around Substitute H.B.
500. To view this legislation in its entirety, visit ASA’s legislative website
at www.TakingTheHill.com.
The Texas Franchise Tax legislation, included in Substitute H.B.
500, states that “the activities classified as Industry Group 753 of the
1987 Standard Industrial Classification Manual published by the federal
Office of Management and Budget
fall under Retail Trade,” addressing
the Texas inequity.

dealers will have to offer even greater
discounts. Parts suppliers, including
dealers, will also be required to pay a
fee to participate in PartsTrader.
Unfortunately, even if OEMs and
IRFs band together and manage to kill
State Farm’s PartsTrader, Nationwide
or GEICO will almost certainly come
out with a similar program. The business case is far too compelling and the
stakes far too high for insurance carri-

Adopt, use and manage smarter
pricing. Right now, OEMs have access
to tremendous quantities of data
through estimating platforms and CollisionLink. OEMs also have relatively
sophisticated pricing systems and access to robust analytical platforms. Together, pricing systems and data enable
surgical precision on parts pricing far
in advance of what aftermarket parts
providers can manage. Separate out
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If the concept is here to stay, what
strategies should OEMs explore?

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ers to leave parts cost in the hands of
the parts supplier, the shop and the
claims adjuster.
Eventually, this concept is going
to be implemented in such a way that
it takes off. It may not be this goaround with PartsTrader, but the competitive online parts marketplace will
happen. The industry is consolidating,
and there’s even more incentive for
large multi-store operators to follow
the insurance companies’ policies in
return for repairs. After all, keeping
the doors open at a big shop requires a
healthy volume, and the easiest way to
a healthy volume is through DRP.

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your pricing rules and strategies, and
get down into the details. This means
creating strategies for pricing specific
part numbers and car models. Although
OEMs do pursue pricing strategies and
aging curves, this is usually done at a
broad, part-type level. In other words,
your strategy for pricing a bumper for
a full-size pickup truck should not necessarily be the same as your pricing
strategy for a bumper for a midsize

bines online ordering with OEM pricecompetitive capabilities. In contrast,
PartsTrader is only in a few markets,
but more are sure to follow, and other
insurance carriers will jump in the
game shortly. An aggressive push by
the OEMs to get their tools embedded
in the market at the dealer and shop
level before the insurance carriers
enter will make the road harder for insurance companies and promote OEM

OEMs’ advantage. 95% of body shops
in the United States can’t competently
complete repairs on structural aluminum. 99.9% of body shops in the
United States can’t competently complete repairs on structural carbon fiber
or CFRP. If OEMs can control the
training associated with advanced materials, they can make sure that vehicles get repaired at shops which use
more OEM parts.

sedan. And the key to the success of
pricing strategies is dynamic management of strategies, rather than “set, forget and revisit in 5-10 years.”
Promote price competitive programs and alternative online ordering
tools. Insurers may have leverage over
behavior for their DRP shops, but
OEMs have first-mover advantage
here. CollisionLink has been in the
market for nearly a decade, and com-

market share. Your price competitive
programs have to be integrated into
your smart pricing strategy, or you’ll
be working at cross-purposes.
Expansion of advanced technical training. Factors such as CAFE,
safety regulations, and the natural
order of progress—that is, advanced
materials and design—have made
parts more complex, and more expensive. That complexity works to

Core returns and salvage leakage.
How does a part wind up in an LKQ
yard? If OEMs can control the spread
of cores and salvageable parts using
core return charges and total-loss buyback programs, they can starve the
network of salvage parts. Of course,
this comes at a cost, but salvage parts
are the fastest-growing segment and
the most risky for OEMs. After all, it
is easy to argue that an aftermarket-

Unfortunately, even if OEMs and IRFs band together and manage to kill
State Farm’s PartsTrader, Nationwide or GEICO will almost certainly
come out with a similar program. The business case is far too compelling
and the stakes far too high for insurance carriers to leave parts cost in the
hands of the parts supplier, the shop and the claims adjuster.

produced part does not meet or exceed
OEM standards. It is more challenging when that part came from the
OEM at some point. Many OEMs are
already active in this area – but they
need to dial up the breadth of parts
covered and the aggressiveness of the
programs.
Certified Body Shops. A certified shop network provides the OEM
with additional input into the repair
process and helps take some of the
leverage away from insurance carriers. When combined with advanced
training and access to OEM tools,
equipment and techniques, certified
body shops are in a position to capture
more of the high end of the increasingly complex repair market. OEMs
may lose the battle on covers and similar nonstructural parts, but there are
opportunities to make up ground in
structural, safety, and specialized
parts.
The bottom line: Expect insurance companies to increase their involvement in the parts procurement
process, and expect it to have a significant negative impact on OEM market
share. Just maintaining current market
share will require a tremendous
amount of additional effort.

Demand is High and Growing for Auto Techs in Michigan
As with many other skilled trades
fields these days, automotive technicians are in high demand—and there’s
a talent gap between jobs posted and
available workers to fill them.
In Southeast Michigan, employers such as car dealerships and body
shops have posted 777 open jobs in the
first six months of this year, and this
time last year were seeking more than
1,200 mechanics and technicians.
That’s according to data tracked by the
Detroit-based Workforce Intelligence
Network.
As is the case with industrial jobs
like machining and welding, for at
least a generation parents have discouraged their children from entering
the auto service world, pushing them
toward white-collar jobs even though
many technical degrees yield better
salaries than many college degrees,
said Tony Molla, vice president of
communications for the Leesburg, Va.based National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence, which
certifies technicians.
Demand will grow in the future;
about half of all technicians will be eligible to retire within 15 years.
“If there is such a thing as job security, it’s in the trades,” said Molla,
also noting that garages compete for
mechanics not just with each other, but

also the aerospace industry.
The mean annual salary for automotive technicians, according to the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, is
about $39,000, and Molla said that’s
on the low side compared to industry
numbers he’s seen.
Al Lecz, director of employer
strategies at WIN, said all nine community colleges in the Southeast
Michigan Community College Consortium have automotive service training programs, with Macomb
Community College’s Center for Advanced Automotive Technology premier among them. The nine colleges
in the consortium are Macomb, Mott
Community College, Oakland Community College, St. Clair Community
College, Wayne County Community
College District, Henry Ford Community College, Monroe County Community College, Schoolcraft College
and Washtenaw Community College.
Other resources include the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation and NATEFaccredited schools; the Automotive
Training Managers Council; and automotive manufacturers, which operate
internal training programs. General
Motors Co.’s is called the General Motors Automotive Service Educational
Program.

In the midst of the CIC and I-CAR
conferences being held in Boston during the week of July 22–26, the Society of Collision Repair Specialists
(SCRS) also held their board meeting.
The 2-hour meeting was held in the
Hancock room of the Westin Boston
Waterfront, located at 425 Summer
Street in Boston, MA.
Led by thirteen board members,
including Ron Reichen making his
debut as Chairman, the meeting was
to convey updates from SCRS staff
and committees to outline current and
future work initiatives. Approximately
twenty attendees gathered to listen to
these updates. The SCRS Education
Committee, led by Toby Chess, offered a presentation focused on repairing aluminum, stud welding and
dent-pulling equipment technologies.
Moving on to a pressing industry
issue, Executive Director Aaron
Schulenburg addressed partial panel
finishing and dissatisfactory compensation from insurers, noting that this
problem which was seemingly corrected back in 2007-8 is returning.
SCRS has seen a drastic increase in
the number of queries about this issue
since the beginning of 2013. Even
more disheartening, this issue is not
geographically isolated, occurring
throughout the country.
SCRS issued letter to six different carriers in May 2013 to enquire
about their guidelines. Surprisingly,
the overwhelming response was that
carriers have not made any changes to
their policies, with many of the carriers saying that their expectations for
reduced refinish time on repaired panels are based on receiving a mutual
agreements with individual repairers
based on the repair needs. Additionally, no company has provided or admitted to any corporate position or
policy which specifies any precise reduction in time, although some examples of such documentation have been
received by SCRS. The association is
continuing to work with these carriers
to address the issue and hopefully resolve what has become a pattern of
practice for some in 2013.
Schulenburg’s said his concern
arises because SCRS has received
complaints from repairers who don’t
agree to a reduction in time yet are
being told that it is a matter of company policy. The question he now

poses to insurers is how to respond to
claims that this is company policy
when, in fact, it is not. Schulenburg
emphasized that such conflicts benefit neither collision repair shops nor
the relationships between repairers
and insurers. SCRS will continue to
seek answers to this dilemma and will
provide an update on the situation at
SEMA in November.

creased involvement within the industry. Through their partnership with
Lynch Associates, AASP-MA hopes
to create a stronger presence, especially legislatively.
Currently, AASP-MA is trying to
get the Auto Body Labor Rate Bill approved into law. Since 2008, the state
has seen a free market resurgence with
new insurers writing new policies,

SCRS Past Chairman Barry
Dorn reported that over 6000 inquiries have been received through the
Database Enhancement Gateway
(DEG)— but while the number is a
milestone accomplishment for the free
industry resource, that number should
be significantly higher. Collaboratively supported by national associations, the DEG is funded by SCRS,
AASP and ASA who monitor the received inquiries through a full time
administrator. Though the DEG has
seen an increase in the number of inquiries received, there are over 30,000
collision repair shops nationally, suggesting that the number of submissions from repair facilities who have
experienced issues with estimating
data could significantly increase if
more in the industry became aware of
the tool, and how easy it was to use.
The industry as a whole benefits from
each inquiry, as they are publicly
posted into a database.
Next, Schulenburg introduced
representatives from their local SCRS
Affiliate Association to talk about
local industry efforts. SCRS represents 40 state and regional Affiliate
Associations across the U.S. Molly
Brodeur, Vice President of AASPMA, provided updates on current industry activities in Massachusetts as
well as an overview of her association’s efforts. The association has
hired a management firm, Lynch Associates, as of May 2013, and with
that addition came new Executive Director Jillian Zywien (see my interview with her this issue p. 35) who
was excited to attend the week’s
events and looks forward to her in-

32 AUGUST 2013 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

however, there have been no changes
to labor rates in fifteen years, leaving
Massachusetts with some of the lowest rates in the nation. The Auto Body
Labor Rate Bill proposes an increase
in labor rates to reach a more competitive level, combined with a review
and possible increase of rates every
three years.
AASP-MA has also redesigned

their website recently to enhance their
member benefit packages as they
strive to increase membership. Since
there is not much I-CAR influence in
Massachusetts, the association is also
working to change that by focusing on
acquiring Gold Class certifications for
local shops. Through their work with
the Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF), AASP-MA awarded
the first recipient of their tool grant at
their 2012 golf outing.
As Brodeur concluded, Schulenburg turned the meeting’s focus toward the future as he assured
attendees that SCRS’s plans for
SEMA are coming along well. He encouraged collision repairers to attend
the November event, claiming it is a
great environment where a shop can
learn how to market itself, add revenue or just learn more about the industry.
SCRS is most closely involved
with the Repairer Driven Education
series at the SEMA Show, and this
year’s development of different learning tracks will allow individuals to
choose the focus of their education.
SCRS has engaged compelling indus-

try speakers for the vents, and Schulenburg believes, “the program hits
home for repairers and will provide
tangible benefits.”
The show floor at SEMA promotes enthusiasm for the collision repair industry, due in large part to the
vast array of exhibiting corporations,
with attendees groups coming from as
far away as Australia and New
Zealand.
Several SCRS board members
proceeded to talk about their involvement with Skills USA, emphasizing
the importance of reaching out to
young people who “truly are our future,” according to Reichen. Schools
with students participating in the competition received a free SCRS membership, and student competitors
received individual recognition from
SCRS, letting them know the industry
supports their efforts to become the
best in their field, and is watching
their accomplishments. The overall
consensus was that an amazing energy
surrounded the event which deserves
to be supported and promoted; SCRS
is excited to be a part of it and plans to
continue their involvement. As always, SCRS emphasizes the importance of continuing education.

Your Driving Costs—AAA Study Finds Vehicle Ownership Costs are Rising
If you own your car outright, you
might not think it costs you that
much to own it, but AAA’s 2013 Your
Driving Costs study shows that costs
range from nearly $7,000 to more
than $11,000 for the average American, depending on the kind of car
driven. What’s more, the cost of
owning a car is rising, which means
it’s costing more to drive your car
year after year even though it’s worth
less and less.

Different car types equal different
costs
AAA calculated the average costs for
six different car types based on the
ownership costs in the study. It found
that the average cost of all sedans—
the majority of cars on the road—is
60.8 cents per mile or $9,122 annually, based on 15,000 miles of driving.
Small sedans cost the least—$6,967
annually. Four-wheel-drive sport utility vehicles cost the most—$11,599
annually—largely due to the fuel costs
of those cars. Perhaps surprisingly,
large sedans cost almost as much—
$11,248—as four-wheel-drive SUVs,
while minivans, which often have
about the same amount of passenger
and cargo-carrying capability as many
SUVs, averaged just $9,795.

Depreciation doesn’t compensate
In last year’s study, depreciation rates
had slowed significantly, making cars
worth more and partially offsetting the
increases in ownership. According to
the 2013 Your Driving Costs study,
depreciation rose 0.78 percent to
$3,571 annually on average. AAA attributed this to an increase of used
cars available, which has softened resale values.

Maintenance costs see big rise
In terms of car-maintenance costs,
the AAA study found that there were
significant increases in the cost of
labor and parts over the past year. As
a result, average maintenance costs
are up by 11.26 percent on average
for sedan owners, the largest percent
year-over-year increase, to 4.97 cents
per mile. Included in that figure are
the labor and parts costs to maintain
and repair the car for five years and
75,000 miles as well as purchasing
an extended warranty. AAA noted
that figure also has increased due to
increases in extended warranty
prices—the result of high losses by
underwriters.
Car insurance costs more, too
While AAA notes that auto insurance

rates vary widely due to numerous
factors, car insurance is rising 2.76
percent to $1,029 annually for the average sedan owner over 2012. To arrive at its average, AAA used a
hypothetical low-risk driver with a
clean driving record and obtained
quotes from five AAA clubs and insurance companies representing seven
states.

Fuel costs rise marginally
While gas prices have continued to
rise, fuel costs are up only slightly,
partially offset by improvements in
car fuel economy. The average cost
for regular unleaded gasoline is up
3.84 percent, but due to miles-per-gallon improvements, fuel costs have
risen just 1.93 percent to 14.45 cents
per mile on average for sedan owners.
For its calculation, AAA uses the national average for regular, unleaded
gas in the fourth quarter of the prior
year.
Tire costs stay stable
After an increase in the 2012 study,
tire costs have remained stable this
year, as manufacturing and shipping
costs for tires have leveled off. The
average sedan owner pays one penny
per mile for tires.

Collision Industry Makes Gains at SEMA Show
With warm summer months still ahead
of us, collision repairers have already
been hot to book their fall travel plans
to attend the 2013 SEMA Show in Las
Vegas, Nevada. Since 2010, the Society of Collision Repair Specialists
(SCRS) has provided the acclaimed
Repairer Driven Education (RDE) series during the Show, attracting record
breaking attendance numbers with
each year.
As of July 1st, SCRS reports an
attendee registration increase of over
250% (YTD), in comparison to the
same time period last year. With more
than four months remaining until the
Show opens on Tuesday, November
5th, the pace at which the program is
gaining registrations is a tremendous
indicator that the 2013 SEMA Show
will be the destination for professionals in the collision repair industry.
“We are extremely proud of the
series we have developed this year,
and still have some additional programming we are working on to even
further amplify the experience this
fall,” shared SCRS Chairman Ron Reichen. “Attendee reaction to our events
is always the best indicator of whether
or not we are delivering what the industry is looking for in our series.
Based on the feedback we have re-

ceived so far, and the extremely compelling numbers, we are confident that
the varied content is going to provide
very tangible value to all involved.”
The RDE series isn’t the only
area of the Show where the collision
industry is demonstrating early spikes
in activity. Show management numbers through the end of June indicated
an increase in collision industry exhibitor counts, square footage occupied by exhibiting collision industry
companies and both overall and collision-focused attendee registration.
While the primary activities for
the collision repair industry take place
in the Collision Repair & Refinish section of the show in the North Hall of the
Las Vegas Convention Center, industry
meetings, forums and newly expanded
show floor space also extend into the
Las Vegas Hotel & Casino (LVH).
In addition, many collision industry companies take advantage of space
that is available in virtually every area
of the show. Areas such as Tools &
Equipment (North Hall), Restyling &
Car Care Accessories (North Hall),
Racing & Performance (Central Hall),
Hot Rod Alley (Central Hall) and at the
First Time & Featured Exhibitors
(LVH) all feature companies that have
a strong collision repair focus.

www.autobodynews.com | AUGUST 2013 AUTOBODY NEWS 33

Northeast News
with Chasidy Rae Sisk

Chasidy Rae Sisk is a freelance technical writer from Wilmington, Delaware,
who writes on a variety of fields and subjects, and grew up in a family of
NASCAR fans. She can be contacted at crsisk@chasidyraesisk.com.

Auto Body Association of Connecticut Supports Members’ Concerns and Fights Unfair Legislation
Since 1968, the Auto Body Association of Connecticut (ABAC) has been
fighting for the collision repair industry. While their
focus has changed
many times over
the past 45 years,
ABAC is still dedicated to preserving the integrity
and independence
Tony Ferraiolo
of repair specialists
throughout their state. Because there
are currently so many important issues
facing the industry, Tony Ferraiolo,
President of ABAC, took time to share
the association’s goals and stances
with Autobody News readers.
Regarding their mission, Ferraiolo
states, “ABAC continuously strives to
educate the motorists of Connecticut
and to enhance the abilities and knowledge of its members, through education, to provide safe and dependable
repairs to the public. Through proposing and monitoring legislation, the
ABAC endeavors to protect the best
interests of consumers, its members
and the collision repair industry.”
ABAC has many ongoing goals
and projects in 2013. One of their primary focuses is on education. They
strive to educate their members on industry-related issues and training, as
well as promoting education on and
protection of consumer rights. ABAC
educates and trains their members on
proper repair procedures, including the
latest information from OEMs. Additionally, they protect the driving public
with consumer advocacy groups which
provide the necessary tools to allow
the average driver to make informed
decisions about their repair needs.
Another important goal for
ABAC is related to legislation. In addition to supporting class action lawsuits when necessary, the association
monitors current legislation, serving
as a watchdog to expose insurers for
violating fair trade practices and to
combat legislation attempts seeking to
limit the independence of collision repair facilities. Beyond education,
ABAC’s current projects focus on ongoing legislative reforms by maintaining and improving communications
with local, state and federal officials.

They are currently in the process of
pushing two class-action lawsuits.
When asked about the biggest
challenges facing the industry today
and possible ways to overcome these
issues, Ferraiolo lists “the influence
that insurance companies have in the
auto body industry. Actions to overcome these influences include lawsuits
(class action and individual), legislative
reforms, and consumer education.”

ABAC does not approve of the
PARTS Act because “the OEMs
should have the same protection that’s
given to any other parts manufacturer.
We defer to the OEMs because it’s the
safest, best way to repair the vehicle.
The research and development that is
put into the OEM parts should not be
undermined. The PARTS Act will
hamper innovative new designs and
cause costs to be amortized over a
short period of time, driving costs up.
Therefore, we reject the PARTS Act.”
They also reject the Right to Repair. Ferraiolo notes, “We believe all
information should be given out to
everyone so as not to discriminate
against any repairers. Information
should be shared so that vehicles can
be safely and properly repaired.”
Ferraiolo also believes “PartsTrader is bad for our industry.” In their
press release on PartsTrader from September 2012, ABAC notes, “the endeavor is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It
is bad for repairers, part manufacturers,
and most importantly, consumers. The
only two enterprises in place to profitand profit handsomely- are State Farm
Insurance and PartsTrader.” It is clear
that PartsTrader does not benefit repairers or consumers as PartsTrader’s
model shows insurers collecting more
premiums only to find ways to pay less
on claims, which “is fundamentally
corrupting both industries,” the press
release continues.
Even worse, ABAC predicts that
it is only a matter of time before other

34 AUGUST 2013 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

insurers institute similar programs to
the detriment of the collision repair industry. This is the reason that ABAC
refers to PartsTrader as “an embodiment of what’s wrong with the auto
body industry and a harbinger of
what’s to come,” which is why they
encourage their members (and collision repairers nationwide!) to become
educated on the program and stand up
for themselves. “In light of the long-

term damage this program will likely
cause our industry, we are respectfully
encouraging those of you who have
not yet weighed in on this debate, to
carefully examine the pilot program
and voice your opinions.”

ABAC was formed in 1968 when
around seven independent organizations joined together to form one association: the Auto Body Association of
Connecticut. At that point, ABAC was
comprised of two officers from each
individual organization who gathered
for monthly meetings, but each organization continued to operate separately
as well until around 15 years ago when
all of those individual organizations
joined together to strengthen ABAC.
According to Ferraiolo, “because individual groups consolidated and became one, the organization runs more
efficiently. The locals were able to
concentrate on committees and, therefore, accomplish more for the association. There is strength in numbers.”
While keeping their busy repair
members engaged in the forefront of the
industry, by participating in the latest
developments, is always a challenge,
ABAC rises to the occasion repeatedly.
See Supports Concerns, Page 37

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Northeast News

Chasidy Rae Sisk is a freelance technical writer from Wilmington, Delaware,
who writes on a variety of fields and subjects, and grew up in a family of
NASCAR fans. She can be contacted at crsisk@chasidyraesisk.com.

Recently, the Massachusetts chapters
of the Alliance of Automotive Service
Providers (AASP/MA) named Jillian
Zywien to the position of Executive
Director. Zywien is honored to be chosen to represent the association’s best
interests, and she looks forward to implementing new programs to benefit
their members. Despite the time demands of her new duties, she was
eager to take time to share her plans
for the association.
As a senior account executive for
Lynch Associates, Zywien’s experience is primarily based in the Public
Relations and Communications fields,
and she believes that her work in association management consulting across
a broad spectrum of industry organizations will benefit AASP/MA as she
steps into her new role.
“During my tenure, I have applied
my skills to broaden communications
to members; to enhance marketing of
events and benefits to members, and to

implement electronic and social media
contacts. The members will find this
provides a growing stream of industry
related information at their fingertips.”
In recent months, a large part of
AASP/MA’s attention has been focused on education. Having instituted
a variety of training options during her
career, both industry-specific and general business topics, Zywien notes that
“Education is a primary focus of the
services professional associations provide… For example, we recently
began providing
educational opportunities through
webinars for ease
of delivery to
members. These
programs provide
members with the
Jillian Zywien
opportunity to access educational content at any time
that is convenient to them. We would
love to hear what members think and

how we can better cater to their needs.”
AASP/MA has also spent a considerable amount of time in filing complaints about insurance companies
with the Auto Damage Appraiser Licensing Board (ABALB). Zywien believes these efforts are yielding fruit,
and it’s important to attend these hearings on members’ behalf because “In
order to continue to influence the regulatory process, we must build a robust
and ongoing relationship with the
Board of governance over this industry. Relationship building and strategic
interaction are two of the goals we
have for AASP members with the
ADALB Board. Demonstrating that an
issue is a frequent reoccurrence allows
us to approach remedies from the
broader viewpoint, as such, we will
continue prior practices relative to the
ADALB board.”
One of AASP/MA’s largest projects in 2013 has been the re-filing of
the Labor Rate Bill. Zywien is taking
an active role in this process; “Having
just come into the position in the last
few days, our first goal will be to meet
with our legislative committee and formulate a long-term strategic plan that
addresses all of the public policy objectives the association is confronting.
Issues include the labor rate, insurance
company practices with consumers,
and matters brought before the
ADALB. For the mechanical side of
the industry, we will remain vigilant on
the implementation of the recently enacted Right to Repair initiative. It is
our goal to take an expansive view of
both statutory and regulatory initiatives affecting the automotive service
industry, and develop remedies that
may occur in a variety of governmental bodies.”
Additionally, Zywien feels it is
imperative to educate consumers on
their rights under the policy and with
regard to repairs in particular. “One of
our many goals is to ensure that the
AASP/MA is a resource, not only for
the industry, but also for our consumers. It would be our hope that providing this education would begin to
overcome the misimpressions often
left by insurance companies and empower consumers when it comes to
their own vehicles.”

Though it’s no surprise that many
AASP/MA members are discouraged
by the past failures in passing the Labor
Rate Bill, Zywien remains optimistic.
“A new broom sweeps clean. Each industry advocate comes to the table with
different perspectives on how issues
can be addressed. Our relationship with
the association provides for an opportunity to rebrand and expand the arguments used on policy debates. We
would ask that the members remain
open to new strategies and informational delivery systems. Clearly the
reason people join associations is to enhance their own business environment.
We are keenly aware of that and will
work to build the members’ confidence
for new strategies. We will provide
members with informational content
they can use to advocate on their own
behalf with elected officials and regulators. I would ask the members to give
us a chance to change the dynamics
and reinvigorate advocacy efforts regarding their issues.”
As Zywien strives to implement
improvements throughout the association and the industry as a whole, she
believes that now is the perfect time to
join AASP/MA. By contributing many
new, innovative ideas, she hopes to
continue strengthening the foundation
created by the current leadership of the
association. Additionally, her involvement with Lynch Associates provide
beneficial resources as the firm consists of many long-term professionals
in the association consulting market,
and they’ve already outlined several
new programs to the Board, making it
easier for members to access benefits,
participate in programs, and receive
timely communications.
Zywien’s enthusiasm and energy
makes her an idea choice for Executive Director of AASP/MA, and she’s
diving right in to her new responsibilities. “This provides an exciting opportunity to grow AASP/MA and we
are ready to roll up our sleeves and
share the enthusiasm we have for the
organization. Look for new branding,
look for new benefits, look for new educational opportunities, and please
provide feedback. We serve the members, and we want to do it with excellence.”

www.autobodynews.com | AUGUST 2013 AUTOBODY NEWS 35

I-CAR Tech

This article first appeared in the I-CAR Advantage Online, which is published and distributed free of charge. I-CAR, the Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair, is a
not-for-profit international training organization that researches and develops quality
technical education programs related to collision repair. To learn more about I-CAR, and
to subscribe to the free publication, visit http://www.i-car.com.

OSHA Hazard Communication Standard Revision

The Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) is requiring
that all employees be trained, by December 1st of 2013, on the revision to
its Hazard Communication Standard.
The revision to the 1994 standard
more closely aligns with the Globally
Harmonized System (GHS), an international approach to labeling and classifying hazardous products.
Why the change? Credit the
global marketplace. The U.S. is both
a major importer and exporter of
chemicals. American workers often
see labels and material safety data
sheets (MSDS) from the U.S. and
from other countries. The diverse and
sometimes conflicting national and international requirements can create
confusion among those who seek to
use hazardous material information
effectively.
Major Changes
The Hazard Communication Standard
regulates identification and communication of hazardous products in the
workplace. The major changes include:

■ Hazard classification: There are
now specific criteria for classification
of health and physical hazards, to help
ensure that evaluations of hazardous
effects are consistent across product
makers.
■ Labels: Chemical manufacturers
and importers will be required to provide a label that includes the product
name, supplier identification including an emergency phone number, the
word “Warning” or “Danger,” pictograms, and hazard statements for
each hazard class and category. Precautionary statements must also be
provided.
■ Safety Data Sheets: The word “Material” has been dropped, and there is
a specified 16-section format. The
previous standard had a nine-section
material safety data sheet, but product
makers could generally deviate from
that as long as the information was
there. Now all safety data sheets will
be 16 sections.
If manufacturers, importers, distributors, or employers become newly
aware of any significant information

regarding the hazards of a chemical,
the label should be revised to the new
standard within six months of becoming aware of the new information.
With products that have not changed,
product makers have between June
and December of 2015 to convert their
labels and safety data sheets to the
new standard.
Why the December 1st 2013
training requirement for employees if
the product makers have until 2015 to
implement the new standard requirements? OSHA believes that American
workplaces will soon begin to receive
labels and SDSs that are consistent
with the GHS, since many American
and foreign chemical manufacturers
have already begun to produce GHScompliant labels and SDSs. It’s important to ensure that when employees
begin to see the new labels and SDSs
in their workplaces, they will be familiar with them, understand how to
use them, and be able to access the information effectively.
Label Requirements
The supplier must provide at least the
following on every hazardous material
label:

■ The product identifier (name)
■ A signal word, indicating the relative level of severity of the hazard, either “Danger” (more severe) or
“Warning” (less severe)
■ Hazard statements assigned to each
applicable hazard class or category,
such as “Flammable” or “Carcinogen”
■ Pictograms, eight to choose from
and one environmental hazard option
■ Precautionary statements stating
what should be done to protect the
worker from the hazard, such as “Respiratory protection required” or “Keep
away from open flame”
■ Name, address, and telephone number of the product maker or importer
or other responsible party

The eight pictograms are shown on
page 24.
Note that the pictograms are all
within a red diamond. There are two
new pictograms, one indicating
“Health Hazard” and one indicating
“Explosive.” Health Hazards include

36 AUGUST 2013 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

carcinogens, reproductive toxins, and
other toxins that target a specific
organ. Explosives have been separated
from flammables. The Environment
pictogram is non-mandatory, as
OSHA does not oversee environmental hazards.

Workplace Labels
Workplace labels are mentioned in the
revised standard, but nothing has really changed. The minimum requirements for a workplace label are still
the product name and indications on
the specific hazards of the product,
using pictograms, phrases, or words,
whatever is available and applicable.
If pictograms and phrases are used,
they should be consistent with the revised standard. Sources for the label
can be as complicated as using labeling kits from a safety catalog, or writing the information directly and
legibly on the container in permanent
marker.

National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) labels, with the diamond
shape and the color and numbering
system, can be used as workplace labels, but there’s an important difference in the numbering system used by
the NFPA compared to the GHS. With
the NFPA system, the higher the number the greater the hazard, so a “1” is
the least severe hazard. With the GHS,
it’s just the opposite, the lower the
number the more severe the hazard, so
a “1” is the most severe hazard. When
using the NFPA label as a workplace
label, use the GHS numbering system.
The numbers are often included in the
SDS.

Safety Data Sheet (SDS)
The information required on the SDS
remains essentially the same as that in
the 1994 standard, except that the information must be presented using 16
specific headings in a specified sequence.

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Employer’s Responsibility
Repair facility owners and managers
need to become familiar with the standard revisions and train their employees on recognizing the new labels and
reading the new SDS versions by December 1st.
OSHA has some downloadable
“quick cards” available for help with
this training. Go to www.osha.gov.
Besides the general information,
it’s even more important that repair facility owners and managers explain
how the hazardous communication
procedures will change in the specific
facility. If OSHA makes a visit, that is
what they will be looking for; if employees know how to find and read the
information on hazardous materials
that they work with.

Supports Concerns
Other benefits of membership include
group discounts, educational meetings
and quarter meetings which allow
members to stay up-to-date on the latest
trends to maintain national awareness.
Though ABAC has over 400 members,
including honorary members, shops

Skull and Crossbones

Conclusion
OSHA recently updated its Hazard
Communication Standard, which
covers requirements for labels,
safety data sheets, and hazard material classifications. Several product
makers have already begun using the
new labeling and SDS system, so
OSHA is requiring employees be
trained to recognize the new label
and SDS format by December 1st,
2013.
Even more important than general information is for shop owners
and managers to inform employees
about how hazard communications
will change in the repair facility.
For comments or suggestions on
the Advantage Online, please contact
I-CAR at advantage@i-car.com.
and vendors, they still strive “to grow
and strengthen our membership to create a stronger association.”
Auto Body Association of
Connecticut (ABAC)
104 Cheshire Rd
Prospect, CT 06712
203-767-5731
www.abaconn.com
info@abaconn.com

www.autobodynews.com | AUGUST 2013 AUTOBODY NEWS 37

Rodney Pierini is President & CEO of CAWA, Operating in California, Nevada, Arizona
Rodney Pierini has been the President
and CEO of the
California Automotive
Wholesalers Association
(CAWA) for the
past 17 years. The
CAWA a nonprofit trade associRodney Pierini has
ation representing
been at the helm of
automotive afterCAWA for the past 17
market parts manyears, an organization
ufacturers, jobbers,
that represents automotive aftermarket
warehouse distribparts manufacturers,
utors and retailers
jobbers, warehouse
in California, Nedistributors and
vada, and Arizona.
retailers in California,
The organization
Nevada, and Arizona
was formed in
1955 and serves as the voice of the aftermarket parts industry in the West.
We sat down with Pierini recently to
discuss his organization and how its
role affects and impacts the aftermarket/warehouse parts business within
the collision industry in the three states
he represents and also on a national
level.
ABN: While representing your
membership, how do your goals feed
into the collision industry and how do
you support your membership in these
areas?
RP: The collision industry is a
segment of the automotive aftermarket
and as such we are in the business to
promote and protect the industry, particularly, in the government affairs
arena. Through legislative and regulatory alerts we keep our membership
apprised of what is happening in government that will impact their business. Many of our members supply the
collision industry with parts and products required to service customers in a
qualitative and timely fashion, as well.
ABN: Why do you think business
professional groups like the CAWA
help the industries they serve and
maybe cite some specific examples?
RP: As an automotive aftermarket
trade association, CAWA was founded
by members of the aftermarket industry to collectively speak as one voice,
to promote training for themselves and
their employees and to come together
to improve their purchasing power in
business service programs and products, e.g., business insurances.
ABN: You’ve been the President/CEO of the CAWA for many
years and have seen the automotive
parts industry change. What are the

most significant changes your members have encountered?
RP: Consolidation and a more intense and sophisticated competitive
business environment.
ABN: There’s an on-going push
and shove when it comes to the aftermarket/recycled/re-manufactured parts
industry vs. the manufacturer’s OE
parts industry. Talk about how the aftermarket parts sector has become
more efficient and responsive to
changes within the market and how
the quality is equal with OE parts, in
many instances.
RP: In many cases, the major OE
supplier is also manufacturing replacement parts in the aftermarket.
These parts are as good as, if not better than the part that rolls off the assembly line (because of the
improvement in manufacturing post
assembly). Also, the remanufacturing
segment is at the forefront of reduced
emissions and a greener industry footprint in the automotive sector of
today’s economy. In the government
affairs process we continuously stress
the quality of aftermarket replacement
parts and their contribution to the
overall economy and public good, i.e.,
the aftermarket gives the consumer the
choice of where to purchase their parts
and where to have their vehicles serviced.
ABN: If you wanted to give any
feedback or advice to body shops or
the manufacturers of aftermarket collision parts, what would you tell them?
RP: Look to the CAWA membership who offers quality collision parts
and products. Also, see the hard parts
manufacturers, manufacturer representatives, distributors and retailers as
an ally in promoting and protecting the
collision segment of the industry. This
notion strengthens all segments of the
industry.
ABN: What changes do you think
will occur in the auto repair industry
overall within the next 10-20 years
that will impact the aftermarket parts
industry?
RP: Parts generally are manufactured and re-manufactured to high
quality standards today and will continue to improve as the industry adapts
and changes to new technologies and
the vehicles of the future. As technology becomes more sophisticated, we’ll
see more repair specialization that will
require the parts industry to remain
nimble and responsive to this emerg-

38 AUGUST 2013 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

ing trend. New vehicle technology will
also add to the ever-changing future
and the parts industry will adapt and ,
as always, find ways to respond to the
yet unforeseen future of the automobile.
ABN: New legislative bills
emerge all the time, and if passed, they
can greatly affect your membership.
Tell us how you play a role in staying
on top of these proposed bills/laws and
how you stay vigilant on these developments as they arise?
RP: Perhaps the greatest service
we provide to the aftermarket industry
is our legislative work. If CAWA were
not in California, Nevada and Arizona,
the industry would feel the void in uncontested intrusion through legislation
and the regulatory powers of all levels
of government. If the aftermarket
voice is not heard in these state capitols, business owners would find
themselves helpless to the governments’ presence in the conduct of
daily business. CAWA monitors legislation, regulation and other government programs to assure our members
and the industry are not ill served by
these processes and the insatiable financial appetite of political operatives.
And we promote legislation that supports our members and makes doing
business more palatable in the face of
government politicians and bureaucrats throughout the western states.
ABN: How have aftermarket/
warehouse parts businesses figured out
how to survive the collapse of 2008
and has it become a more competitive
market as a result?
RP: There is no doubt that the
market is more highly competitive
today and has been so for several
years. That’s one reason we still see
parts warehouses and jobber stores
going out of business. Those that are
purchasing right, managing right, constantly monitoring revenues and expenditures and going to market in an
efficient manner will continue to be
successful. Those not up to the challenges of todays and tomorrow’s competitive environment will not be
around in 5-10 years. Those that have
survived have also created alliances
with other aftermarket business to
strengthen their buying power and position in the market place. There are
many very competent and entrepreneurial owners and managers in this
industry that adapt well and quickly to
survive and stay competitive.

Continued from Page 26

Repairer Roundtable
ise in certain areas when needed, but
never relinquishing control of the
standard.
As the Repairer’s Roundtable’s
time drew to a close, Schulenburg announced that the next gathering will
be held at SEMA in November, and
he asked what can be done constructively to result in meaningful action
and to be certain that something relevant comes out of the meeting.
Everyone agreed that the most important way to improve these meetings is to encourage everyone in the
industry to attend.
The take home message to repairers is ‘So what are you waiting
for?’ As Martin Luther King Jr. once
said, “change does not roll in on the
wheels of inevitability, but comes
through continuous struggle. And so
we must straighten our backs and
work for our freedom. A man can’t
ride you unless your back is bent.”
Don’t let anyone bend your back!
Join associations. Attend meetings.
Support and institute change today
for a better industry tomorrow.